United States Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D - Hawaii) joined President Clinton at the White House to unveil a new weapons control initiative and call for passage of legislation pending in Congress which would address gun violence involving children.

The President's legislation would strengthen the Brady law by restoring the mandatory waiting period, require background checks on people who buy weapons at guns shows, require background checks on anyone who wants to buy explosives, and raise the legal age for handgun possession to 21 years. The proposal would also strengthen zero tolerance for guns in schools, require child safety locks on all new guns sold, increase criminal penalties for the transfer of guns to juveniles, increase efforts to stop illegal gun trafficking, and establish a national system to limit handgun purchases to one per month.

"Common sense precautions are necessary to stem the tide of gun violence involving children," Akaka stated. "Easy access to weapons by young people is a recurring problem that has wrought calamity and death in schools in Colorado, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Mississippi in a little more than a year. When you add to these tragedies the stark fact that 13 children die every day in America as a result of gunshot wounds, it becomes clear that the access of children to guns is a national problem."

In Congress, Senator Akaka is a cosponsor of S. 738, the Children's Gun Violence Prevention Act of 1999. The bill would establish new safety standards on the manufacture and import of handguns, including a child-resistant trigger, a child-resistant safety lock, a magazine safety and manual safety. It would also prohibit the sale of an assault weapon to anyone under age 18, increase criminal penalties for selling a gun to a juvenile, penalize gun dealers who willfully sell to juveniles, and impose fines on a gun owner if a child gains access to a loaded firearm and criminal penalties if the gun is used in an act of violence.

"The legislation I support in no way infringes on the right of hunters and sportsmen to own and use long guns and handguns," Akaka noted. "Adults who enjoy, own, and use guns in a responsible manner may at most experience minor inconvenience on a future gun purchase, if anything at all, should this legislation pass. Certainly, the safety and well-being of our children is well worth the sacrifice."