There Should Be Stricter Gun Control Laws - Statement Of Howard Metzenbaum (doh), Congressional Record, Senate, March 1, 1994

… [T]here is a gun crisis in this country. There are over two hundred million guns in America. An American is killed by a gun every fourteen minutes. Every fifty seconds, someone is raped, robbed, or assaulted with a handgun.

And we are all paying the price. Our children are paying the price. Foreign tourists are paying the price. Shopkeepers are paying the price. Innocent bystanders are paying the price. We are all victims.

Since 1968, more than three hundred thousand Americans have been murdered by guns. In 1992, more than thirty-five thousand people were killed by gunfire. Today, only cars cause more fatal injuries than guns, and guns are expected to take the lead very soon….

Aside from the toll on human lives, the economic costs from gun violence are staggering. A 1989 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated the lifetime economic cost of gun violence in 1985 at $14.4 billion. And that was 1985.

And what kind of country are we creating for our children? What can we say when our children are afraid to go to school? When we are afraid to let them go outside to play? Gun violence takes the life of a child every two hours…. The number of ten- to seventeen-year-olds who used guns to commit murder skyrocketed 79% during the 1980s….