Remarks at the First-Day-of-Issue Ceremony for the Law and Order Postage Stamp.

Mr. Attorney General Clark, Postmaster General Watson, Senator Byrd, Senator Dirksen, Members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen:

This stamp is a symbol of our country's commitment to law and order.

It may seem as easy for a public man to come out in favor of law and order as it is to be in favor of Mom's blueberry pie. But there is no legislation pending on Mom's blueberry pie. So everyone can be for it without fear of repercussion.

But there is legislation before the Congress that deals with law and order. Passing that legislation, passing a fair and effective crime control law, requires action. It demands judgment, determination, and courage.

The prime case in point is the gun bill. I cannot tell you this morning exactly how many Americans have been killed or maimed because there has been no effective national gun control law in America. But I do think I can tell you this, and I believe common sense will tell it to you also:

That some of the 6,500 murders, some of the 60,000 robberies, some of the 43,000 aggravated assaults that occur each year in this land of ours might have been prevented by passage of an effective gun control law.

Yesterday, the Senate approved a halfway version of the gun bill. I do not think it is adequate. It doesn't cover long guns and rifles. It would still, I believe, permit murder by mail order.

Gun bills have been debated. They have been debated long. I believe they have been debated long enough.

When 70 percent of the American people have said that they favor a strong gun control law, then we should not impose a weak control law on the public.

I believe that we need to go all the way to safety now, not just part of the way.

On the face of this stamp there is a picture of a policeman with a little boy. For almost a year and a half we have been trying to help that policeman with our safe streets and our crime control program.

This followed a study by the most eminent authorities in the Nation, appointed by the President, which spent months and months studying this whole question. They were called the President's Crime Commission.

This safe streets and this crime control program are our biggest weapons in the fight against the random criminal and against the organized racketeer.

But there are efforts underway, I am fearful, to water down this bill and to weaken it.

Law and order in this year of 1968 is not just a platitude, it is an action program.

Part I is a gun bill. Part II is the safe streets bill.

The American people, I believe, want both, not speeches, not halfway measures.

I believe the American people will judge us by what we do and not what we say.

I believe the American people want the full protection of forceful and effective law in dealing with these criminals.

Thank you very much.