Angie Craig: “the Senator from New York brings an amendment to this Chamber--certainly, I think, with the most sincere of intent--to…”

“the Senator from New York brings an amendment to this Chamber--certainly, I think, with the most sincere of intent--to set aside $15 million; in other words, to mandate the gun surrender program that just a few weeks ago the Bush administration announced it was terminating, largely because it does not work. So what I thought I would do, for the next few moments, is sketch for us the facts about gun surrender programs over the last several years and why they do not work. As we know, there is no mandate in the law. President Clinton and Secretary Cuomo changed the description of the Public Housing Drug Elimination Program to allow public housing authorities to make grants available for gun surrender initiatives. It is interesting that of the 1,000 housing authorities this change affected, only about 100 took advantage of the program. There is a peculiar reason they took advantage of the program. Very early on, starting back in 1978, it became obvious gun surrender programs were a great photo opportunity for local law enforcement and, in some instances, certain housing agencies or groups. Never mind that they did nothing to deter crime. In fact, they were not taking off the streets guns being used in crimes.”