Harry Reid: “Senator Coverdell has offered an amendment that expresses the sense of the Senate that the Safe and Drug Free Schools…”

“Senator Coverdell has offered an amendment that expresses the sense of the Senate that the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program should target the elimination of illegal drugs and violence in our schools. Those on this side of the aisle agree with his sentiment and, accordingly, I expect this amendment will receive nearly unanimous support. What we want to make clear, however, is that we do not agree with his one-sided attack in this resolution about the administration's gun prosecutions record. What this amendment fails to recognize is that, in fact, firearms convictions are up dramatically. In 1996, 22 percent more criminals were incarcerated for either State or Federal weapons offenses than in 1992. I am sure we could go forward with the statistics--that we do not have--for 1997, 1998, and 1999 that would show it would be up even more. The proof is in the pudding. The Nation's rate of violent crimes committed with guns has dropped by 35 percent since 1993. Something this administration is doing must be working. For instance, it could be the passage of the Brady bill, which has stopped more than 400,000 felons and fugitives from receiving firearms, preventing untold crimes and violence. Finally, let's be serious. It will be a lot easier to prosecute gun crimes once we close the loopholes that riddle our code. So while Democrats support Senator Coverdell's conclusion, we cannot and do not support these one-sided findings in the amendment.”