Frank Lautenberg: “I rise now in strong support of a resolution offered by my colleague, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. At the same…”

“I rise now in strong support of a resolution offered by my colleague, Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island. At the same time, I commend him for all of his hard work in support of gun safety measures. We are soon approaching an anniversary. Most anniversaries have a happy ring to them--wedding anniversaries, birthdays are often called an anniversary. Those are pleasant moments. But the anniversary we are talking about now is one we will remember for decades to come. It is the anniversary of a mammoth American tragedy. It is only 31 days until April 20, 2000, the 1-year anniversary of the terrible tragedy at Columbine High School in Colorado. We all remember that awful day almost a year ago. Across the Nation, people saw and heard the shocking news reports. Two students had stormed into their school and systematically shot and killed 12 classmates and a teacher. They also wounded 23 other students and teachers. It makes me shudder when I recall the bloody carnage of that day. I had to shake my head in disbelief that this outrage could be committed in a school. No parent and no grandparent could avoid thanking goodness for the safety of their own families when they saw the horrors of those moments. Those innocent, young people, full of life, running, scared, desperate, trying to get away from the gunmen--the image of the young man hanging out of the window trying to reach safety. We thought that incident, that tragedy, would finally wake up Congress.…”