Hon. Paul E. Gillmor: “I thank the chairman and rise in strong support of the bill. Mr. Speaker, as a father and a grandfather I am often…”

“I thank the chairman and rise in strong support of the bill. Mr. Speaker, as a father and a grandfather I am often reminded of the dangers that surround my loved ones. Specifically the growing threat that sexual predators pose to our Nation's children and their families represents an area where our criminal justice system has fallen behind the public need. In order to effectively protect our loved ones, we must provide the American public with unfettered access to know who these dangerous criminals are and where they are living. If a picture is worth a thousand words, than a comprehensive nationwide publicly accessible database is worth at least that many lives. I was pleased that Chairman Sensenbrenner included provisions from my bill, H.R. 95, that would create a national, comprehensive, and publicly accessible sex offender database into this comprehensive piece of legislation. Additionally, I feel that it is important to have consistency not only with a national registry, but also in how offenders are classified. Currently each State classifies offenders differently according to the risk that they pose to the community. The result is inconsistent and unreliable classifications across state lines. I was pleased that the chairman saw the need to address this issue, and I appreciate him working with me to include a provision to study the merits of a national risk-based classification system that could be integrated into the national sex offender database.…”