Date: 1994-08-18
Speaker: EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Thank you. Mr. Leader of the hour. and Madam Speaker. To my- colleagues. let me just comment very briefly on crime before I move to health care. I represent District 30 in Dallas. TX. Our statistics indicate that crime is going down. but you cannot tell that by the newspapers. Every day most of the headlines have to do with crime. and they really are crimes committed by young people. � School has only been open less than 2 weeks now. and already teachers have had guns in their faces. They found a gun arsenal under the side of the building. It is overwhelming. but we must do something about it. The presence of all these weapons and drugs and gangs will continue to terrorize our communities and our schools. unless we take a hand to do something about it. And if we do not put a hand in to alter this activity by young people. they will commit crimes with these weapons. That is a proven fact. We are no longer safe in our homes. We do not even use parks anymore for. what they were intended because no one feels safe walking through parks. We simply must do something about crime. and it must be balanced. We have to prevent. as well as punish and then treat. because we have learned that 70 percent .of the crimes committed are committed under the influence of drugs. All of us know that the influence of drugs simply does not just disappear. It must be a treatment modality. and there must be aftercare. and then there must be activities that will prevent the need to fall back into a gang and that environment that starts this cycle again and causes what we call recidivism. We simply must do something about what is going on. We have that responsibility. We are responsible to the citizens of this country.. and we must do something about it. We must fund the additional police. You know. I used to fear policemen. before I got to know who they really were. Now I would not live in a neighborhood. on a block. that I did not feel had some attention from the police. They are really our friends. But we have put them out there with not much protection as well. We must have more. and they must be trained properly. and we must supply that need. Our communities. our innercities. and our rural areas. are overcome with this influx of activity that they have not been accustomed to dealing with. The money that will help put the additional cops on the street. an almost 20percent increase in the Nations 504.000 local police officers. will go a long way in addressing this area. I cannot understand why there is so much opposition and so much rhetoric and so much demagoguery surrounding the bill that will address these issues. It is unfortunate that the NRA has so many people hostage. It is almost like holding them hostage with a gun. You know. I have noticed television recently with Charlton Heston. a very wellknown popular actor. but. unfortunately. he does not have a clue about crime and how to fight it. His commercial. sponsored by NRA and the Republican party. is not only unbelievable. it is filled with untruths about funding police officers. It is unfortunate that we cannot tell the real truth to the public. But they are not fooling them. It is clear to me they understand very well about what is going on in their own communities. So when we say all of this and we avoid the truth. we are simply fooling ourselves. The ban on assault weapons has been endorsed by every major law enforcement group in the country. and police across America report that semiautomatic weapons are the weapons of choice for drug traffickers and street gangs. There is really no real legal use for all of these handgun assault weapons. We must stop the flow. And the only way we can do that is take on our rightful responsibility. People across America. police officers. ministers. students. are pleading for us to give them some attention. You know. in my district was a 5yearold boy sitting on his grandmothers porch one Sunday afternoon eating ice cream. and a stray bullet took his life away. And I received a letter from his aunt recently that pleaded for something to be done. She said I will never forget seeing my nephew. And more than that. I see my son every day. who is afraid every time he moves around. He will not go on the porch. He Is afraid to go to school. because all he can think about is his cousin sitting innocently eating an ice cream cone and glancing up to take his last glance at his parents. and then being hit by a bullet and his life snuffed away. I appreciate my colleague taking this time to address the issue of crime. and I would encourage all of my colleagues to let us have a swift passage of the crime bill. I do not agree with everything that is in the crime bill. Clearly no legislation that we pass do I agree with every bit of it. But that is the process we are In. and it is called a democracy. Madam Speaker. I would like to include a statement by the AfricanAmerican religious leader who supports the crime bill.