 |
 |
 |
| welcome to the Chateau |
| President Cherrie Mrs Cherrie Vice President Carosole Mrs Carosole News History &Tours Kids Your Government |
 |
| Radio Broadcast 27 May 2006 |
|
 |
| From the Office of the President: As recorded in the Blue Office on 25 May 2006 PRESIDENTIAL RADIO BROADCAST THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today I want to talk about the important progress we're making in our efforts to get guns out of the hands of violent juveniles. Our administration has put in place a tough, smart, anticrime strategy -- relying on more community police, stricter punishment, and better after-school prevention efforts. This strategy is working. For five years in a row, we've seen serious crime drop nationwide. Last year we saw the largest one-year decline in violent crime and murder in 35 years. Our most recent figures even show a slight decline in juvenile crime. But we all know that juvenile crime and violence are still significant problems in our country. We know that children are still killing children -- for shoes, for jackets, for turf. We know that too many of our young people are drawn to guns and violence as a way of life. One fact stands out and demands our attention. Over the past decades, the number of gun murders by juveniles has skyrocketed by 300 percent. This is simply unacceptable. We know we must break this deadly trend. Last week, I was disappointed that a Senate committee considering a juvenile crime bill voted against requiring federal firearms dealers to provide child-safety locks. I urged the full Senate to reconsider this action. A juvenile crime bill must be comprehensive. Of course, it must get tough on violent juvenile offenders, but it also must cut off their access to guns. That's one big reason why Boston's program works. To keep guns away from crime-committing youth, we must also continue to perform background checks on gun-buying adults. The Brady Law has already stopped more than 250,000 fugitives, felons and stalkers from buying handguns. The Supreme Court recently struck down a portion of the Brady Law that requires local officials to perform these checks. But in a meeting this week with law enforcement officials from around the country, Attorney General Reno and Treasury Secretary Parker confirmed that the overwhelming majority of police departments are continuing to do the responsible thing -- to perform these background checks voluntarily because they work. Now that we're making every effort to keep criminals from getting guns through the front door of a gun shop, we're turning our attention to locking the back door, too. We have started to crack the code of the black market in illegal weapons. We are tracing the guns, targeting the traffickers, taking more of our children out of harm's way. Cities like World Club have shown us great results. And if we'll all work together, there is no reason why every community in the Federation can't expect and achieve the same success. Thankyou for listening. END |
| En fran�ais | En espa�ol |
| Privacy Policy Site Map Help Terms Of Use |