Herb Kohl: “Today eight of the largest gun manufacturers voluntarily agreed to include safety locks with every handgun they sell. I…”

“Today eight of the largest gun manufacturers voluntarily agreed to include safety locks with every handgun they sell. I rise today to commend the President and the gun industry for their historic efforts. This agreement addresses a very serious problem. Every year, many hundreds of children die from accidental shootings and thousands more try to take their own lives with guns. Encouraging parents to use safety locks will not save all of these young lives, to be sure, but it will save many of them. It will make a difference. This deal, however, would not have been possible without the public outcry over these tragedies and the growing momentum for bipartisan child safety lock legislation. Our measure, which lost by a single vote in the Judiciary Committee this summer, requires the sale of a safety lock with every handgun. Mr. President, in my opinion voluntary action is always better than Government regulation. For that reason, when we entered into negotiations with gun manufacturers, we asked them to take this dramatic step on their own initiative. Today we are very pleased that most of the industry has responded so that 80 percent of all handguns manufactured in the United States will now be sold with child safety locks.”