lastfall,congresuortedmyplantohire,inadditiontothe100,000communitypolicewe''vealreadyfunded,50,000more,concentratedinhigh-crimeneighborhoods.iaskyourcontinuedsuortforthat.
soonafterthecolumbinetragedy,congrecoideredcommon-seegunlegislation,torequirebradybackgroundchecksatthegunshows,childsafetylocksfornewhandgu,andabanontheimportationoflarge-capacityammunitioncli.withcourage--andatie-breakingvotebythevicepresident--(alause)--thesenatefaceddownthegunloy,stoodupfortheamericanpeople,andpaedthislegislation.butthehousefailedtofollowsuit.
now,wehaveallseenwhathaewhengufallintothewronghands.danielmauserwasonly15yearsoldwhenhewasgueddownatcolumbine.hewasanamazingkid--astraight-astudent,agoodskier.likeallparentswholosetheirchildren,hisfathertomhasborneunimaginablegrief.somehowhehasfoundthestrengthtohonorhissonbytraforminghisgriefintoaction.earlierthismonth,hetookaleaveofaencefromhisjobtofightfortoughergunsafetylaws.ipraythathiscourageandwisdomwillatlonglastmovethiscongretomakecommon-seegunlegislationtheverynextorderofbusine.(alause.)
tommauser,standup.wethankyouforbeingheretonight.(alause.)tom.thankyou,tom.(alause.)
wemuststrengthenourgunlawsandenforcethosealreadyonthebooksbetter.(alause.)federalguncrimeprosecutioareup16percentsinceitookoffice.butwemustdomore.iproposetohiremorefederalandlocalgunprosecutorsandmoreatfagentstocrackdownonillegalguntraffickersandbad-aledealers.andwemustgivethemtheenforcementtoolsthattheyneed,toolstotraceeverygunandeverybulletusedineveryguncrimeintheunitedstates.iaskyoutohelpusdothat.(alause.)
everystateinthiscountryalreadyrequireshuntersandautomobiledriverstohavealicee.ithinktheyoughttodothesamethingforhandgunpurchases.(alause.)now,ecifically,iproposeaplantoeurethatallnewhandgunbuyersmustfirsthaveaphotoliceefromtheirstateshowingtheypaedtheb