BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
The U.S. House of Representatives approved a "juvenile
crime" bill June 17 that would extend mandatory sentences to
minors and permit state governments to post the Ten
Commandments in public facilities, including schools. Congress
also voted down firearms legislation that would have weakened
some gun control regulations of a similar bill approved by the
Senate last month.
Liberal politicians, including Vice President Albert Gore, seized on the April 20 shootings by two students at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, where 15 people were killed, and the May 20 shooting by a student at a high school in Conyers, Georgia, to press for more "gun control" laws. These measures give cops and the state more powers to impose background checks and other restrictions on democratic rights.
Intertwined with the gun control arguments on Capital Hill was a debate on "modern culture," "violent entertainment," and what some capitalist politicians argued was the need to bring religion into the schools. "Culture Wars Erupt In Debate on Hill" read a headline in the Washington Post the day the House vote.
Rep. Thomas DeLay got prominent media coverage for his assertion that the recent violent incidents in Colorado and Georgia high schools were linked to the "culture of abortion and the teaching of evolution," not guns, as many liberal Democrats claim. DeLay, a Republican from Texas who is the House majority whip, also launched a tirade against birth control and day care. "This was a culture problem and we had to make that clear," said DeLay after the vote.
The House vote came one month after the Senate passed legislation that would authorize the trying of 14-year-old children as adults for felonies and drug offenses. The Senate bill also provides $1 billion over five years in federal funds for jailing more young people.