Gregory Freeman: Guns In School: Deadly Issue. P-D, 11/27/1992

Headline: GUNS IN SCHOOL: DEADLY ISSUE
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Fri. Nov., 27, 1992
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 01E, Edition: FIVE STAR

KIDS AND GUNS.

Two nouns that should never come together are colliding more and more these days. And the results are tragic. A recently released report by the Senate Judiciary Committee notes that the number of guns confiscated from schoolchildren nationwide has risen sharply over the past four years.
Of 32 large cities surveyed by the panel, Indianapolis led the nation with a 322 percent increase from 1989 to 1992, followed by a 213 percent rise in St. Paul, Minn. Two cities showed a decrease - 7 percent in Minneapolis and 50 percent in Washington.

Why are children bringing guns to schools? Witnesses told the Judiciary Committee that some of the youngsters are involved in gangs that may require their members to carry guns. Some bring them to show off. Others bring them to protect themselves from other students who regularly carry guns.
Guns are so prevalent in so many schools that one witness testified that school administrators in Houston learned this year that one student was running a gun rental service on campus.
"There was a time when the only thing children had to worry about at school was an occasional bully, " observed Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C. "Now, in many urban high schools they have to literally watch their backs or risk being shot."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, 135,000 children nationwide bring guns to school. A majority of these children attend schools in urban or suburban areas.
There's something very sick about all of that. And I suspect that people in other countries - where guns aren't nearly as prevalent as they are here - think that there's something very sick about the United States and its infatuation with guns.

Kids aren't immune to that infatuation. It's spilling over into the schools and other places that children frequent.
When I was a youngster, difficulties were sometimes resolved by fistfights after school. These days, though, a fight after school is more likely to involve guns than fists.

The ABC program "PrimeTime Live" dealt with this issue last week. The program put several students into a high school under cover - complete with portable cameras - to find out how easy it was to get guns. What the program found was eye-opening.
     Students talked openly about owning guns or buying them. When one of the undercover students asked about buying a gun, he was told matter-of-factly by another student that there would be no problem.
     Another undercover student was taken to an area frequented by a large number of teen-agers where guns were regularly sold by other teens. For about $45, he was able to buy a gun.
     In another situation, one student calmly discussed how he had shot another because the other student had called him a name. He talked about the shooting as easily as one might talk about eating dinner.

There's no question that there's a real problem out there and our kids are being affected by it. What to do?
First, schools have got to be more vigilant. In some schools, that may mean metal detectors to make sure that guns and knives don't get into the schools routinely. In some places, this has already been done.
Second, schools must insist on strict punishment for those found with weapons in school. We're dealing with life and death here, and the schools must do everything within their power to keep the schools safe. How can students really learn in an environment in which they think that their lives may be in danger?

The most important step to be taken here, of course, can't be done by the schools at all. It's got to be handled in homes.
It has to do with morals, ethics and values. Parents must teach their children - practically from birth - that human lives are valuable and that life is not a television show in which, after a person is shot on one show, he shows up again, fully intact, as a guest on another program.
Children - and, unfortunately, some adults - have to learn to resolve their differences without guns. If you say something odd to me, or you look at me the wrong way, or if we have an argument, that's not a reason for me to blow you away.

Communities as a whole - teachers, parents, students and others - must address this problem and develop workable solutions.

We've seen too much human carnage in and around our schools for us to continue to ignore the problem.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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