Herb Kohl: “This amendment will make the Boxer amendment virtually identical to the bipartisan child safety lock amendment that…”

“This amendment will make the Boxer amendment virtually identical to the bipartisan child safety lock amendment that passed with 78 votes in 1999. Protecting our children from accidental shooting is a concern that crosses party lines, and I am proud that today we get a chance to express that concern again in an overwhelming and bipartisan way. Every year, children and teenagers are involved in more than 10,000 accidental shootings. Close to 800 of those shootings result in a senseless death. And those 800 deadly accidents do not account for the thousands of additional gun-related deaths of America's youth each year that result from suicide or intentional shootings. Every 6 hours, a young person between the ages of 10 and 19 commits suicide with an available firearm. In all, nearly 3,000 children and young people die every year from gun-related injuries. To many of us, this recitation of numbers and statistics is terribly grim. But for the families, the pain associated with those avoidable deaths is unbearable. What is equally tragic is that so many of these deaths could have been prevented.”