Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, according to a recent study of gun deaths by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children in the United States are 12 times more likely to die because of a firearm than children in other industrial countries. The United States had the highest gun-related child homicides and the highest rate of child suicides of 26 industrial nations in the study. There is not even a close second. Between 1965, Mr. Speaker, and 1995, the percentage of murders committed by people under 21 in my hometown of Chicago went from 10 percent to nearly 40 percent. Over the same 30-year time span, the number of murders committed nationally by those under 21 increased fivefold. Today, 18- and 19-year-olds account for the largest percentage of violent crime arrests in the United States. Mr. Speaker, these sobering facts can lead to only one conclusion: Kids and guns do not mix. I urge my colleagues to support my bill that would ban ownership of handguns for anyone under 21.”