In 2007, about 3,000 children and teens died as a result of gun violence
in the United States. That’s eight children a day. In fact, during
the five years ending in 2009 (the last year for which data are available), over 15,000 children and teens in the U.S. died as a result of gun violence. These are
children like the many you might see getting into school buses at the freezing
hours of the morning.
Some gun lobbyists say that the answer to these
deaths is more guns. They assert that bringing concealed weapons into an area
will increase the safety of that area. They couldn’t be more wrong. In 2005, a study in North Carolina determined
that workplaces where guns were permitted were about five times as likely to
experience a homicide as workplaces where all weapons were prohibited. This
suggests that rather than making a place more safe, allowing guns can make a
place more dangerous.
That’s why it’s vital to prohibit guns in schools in order to
keep our children safe. We currently have laws prohibiting people from bringing
guns onto most federal properties, a reasonable prohibition meant to keep those
areas safer from gun violence. It makes sense to extend that ban onto public
school campuses.
For many years, Oregon’s public colleges have
prohibited guns on campus, including guns carried by concealed handgun license
(CHL) holders. A gun organization sued, however, and last September the Oregon
Court of Appeals invalidated the longstanding administrative
rule, finding that it was preempted by a state statute. As a result, people
with CHLs can now carry loaded, hidden handguns on Oregon's public college
campuses.
Some people are insisting that they are also
entitled to bring their loaded, hidden handguns into high schools, middle
schools, and elementary schools throughout Oregon. They have, for example,
already strong-armed the Newberg School District into dropping its ban on guns
in schools.
In response, the Ceasefire Oregon Education Foundation, an organization dedicated
to reducing gun violence through education and providing opportunities to
dispose of unwanted firearms, has created a petition asking for signatures from those who believe that concealed guns should not be allowed on school campuses. This petition
is important in helping to show that people in Oregon believe that schools are
no place for guns. The more people who sign petitions like this one, the louder
the voices standing against gun violence can be heard.
(updated with minor changes 3/7/12)
