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Wednesday, April 19, 2000
SCHOOL SAFETY
From Page 3
this year, but one middle school in the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system
had five in one week.”
Taylor said five or six schools in the
district had installed security cameras.
“Personnel monitor the cameras at all
times,” he said. “This makes kids and
teachers aware of if anything looks
unusual.”
With only one resource officer at the
high school and only 55 to 65 across the
entire Charlotte-Mecklenburg system in
high schools and middle schools, cam
eras help to improve safety, Taylor said.
“We’re just making sure we are seen,
and they know we are upping security."
Larrv Northe, the safe schools coor-
LEGISLATION
From Page 3
proposed federal legislation in Congress
since last summer.
Most Democrats and Republicans
agree that some type of legislation is
needed in order to combat school vio
lence, but a consensus has yet to be
reached.
President Clinton claims that while
new state laws are helpful, national laws
should be implemented quickly and are
needed in order to cover all states.
Clinton is urging Congress to pass
gun control legislation by the one-year
anniversary of Columbine, April 20, but
the increasingly intense debate makes
this unlikely.
Mandates From the Hill
In May 1999, the U.S. Senate passed
its version of the Juvenile Justice Bill,
which included gun control measures in
addition to harsher sentencing laws and
preventative programs. The bill also
called for background checks at gun
shows with a maximum waiting period
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dinator at Fayetteville’s E.E. Smith High
School, said this visibility factor was also
important in the Cumberland County
School District.
“We have teachers visible in all the
areas where students are," Northe said.
“Kids understand it is their school, and
they set the climate. We just monitor it.”
Northe said the number of incidents
at Smith had decreased from last year as
a result of the efforts of faculty to be
more in contact with the students as well
as conflict resolution programs.
“Most incidents are small arguments
- little he said she said things," he said.
“Gossip spreads, and they like to con
front each other. With these programs,
I can give them the option to come see
me if they foresee a problem.”
Northe and one other SRO are the
only two security patrolmen on a large
of 72 hours.
But the bill has yet to come out of a
House committee. After the bill’s intro
duction in the House, GOP leaders sep
arated the gun control issues from the
rest of the bill.
While this new Juvenile Justice Bill
passed, the gun legislation did not. In
fact, many Democrats voted against the
gun legislation because it lowered the
waiting period at gun shows to a 24-hour
maximum. Democratic leaders said one
day was not enough time to properly
conduct a check when problems arose.
Clinton’s main initiatives concerning
gun legislation include mandatory trig
ger locks, a 72-hour waiting period for
background checks and banning the
import of high-capacity ammunition
clips. Victoria Valentine, spokeswoman
for the president, said Clinton wanted
immediate action on gun control.
“If there’s legislation that America’s
asking for, it should be put to the vote in
Cong Tess,” she said. “Obviously, politics
is playing a part.”
The Public Discourse
But the American public might not
From Page Three
campus of more than 1,200 students. To
prevent further security conflicts, most
doors to the building are usually locked
to incoming traffic. “Students can go out
almost any door, but the main entrance
into the building at the front is the only
one they can come in,” he said.
The Guilford County school system
has also become more aware of violence
prevention efforts in schools since the
occurrence at Columbine, SRO Steve
Hall said.
“Anytime something like that hap
pens, there is heightened alert for copy
cat incidents," he said. “Our job entails
security for the campus and there was
not anything (the people in Columbine)
could have done differendy - those boys
were bound and determined to do what
they did.”
People are looking to SROs to spear
be asking for new legislation. Although
membership in gun control advocacy
groups has grown since Columbine, so
has their opposition.
The NRA said its ranks had swelled
in the past year to 3.5 million, while
Handgun Control Inc. has about
500,000 members.
Although the two camps have tradi
tionally disagreed on the fundamental
aspects of control, the argument now
focuses on specific legislation. One of
the most controversial points is the 72-
hour maximum on background checks.
Most checks are completed instantly
unless a problem in the buyer’s past is
found. But when this occurs, the check
takes longer because of the limited
amount of electronic information avail
able to dealers.
Also, most gun shows occur on week
ends, when information is often tem
porarily unavailable due to weekend
processing.
Federal law does not require checks
at these shows. “In most states it’s legal
for people to sell a gun (at a show) to
whoever they want and they don’t have
to do a background check,” said Nancy
head the safety program, but the officers
alone can not be successful, Hall said.
“If our program is going to be suc
cessful, we need help of the students and
staff,” he said. “You can’t take one offi
cer and solve all the problems. For safe
schools you need the cooperation of all
those sectors.”
Guilford County also has a school
safety plan for each school to complete,
said SRO Stan Dixon at Page High
School. “There are six pages of things
we go through on-site and make sure we
have filled that out and are in compli
ance,” he said.
Monitoring each student’s personali
ty was a main violence prevention tactic,
Dixon said. “I find out what a problem
is, and if a student looks disgruntled or
like they’re going to get physical, I pull
them in my office to talk,” he said. “A lot
Hwa, spokeswoman for Handgun
Control. “It’s clear that criminals know
about this loophole."
But instead of new legislation, the
NRA is calling for the enforcement of
existing federal laws. “Almost all of the
laws aren’t being enforced,” said Bill
Powers, director of public affairs for the
NRA. “Clinton says he stopped 5,000
fugitives from buying a gun (but) could
n’t point to a single prosecution.”
Powers said the NRA was not against
background checks in general. “We sup
ported the check,” he said.
“We always did”
But Handgun Control argues differ
ently, claiming that expansive NRA lob
bying has blocked gun legislation in the
past. “This nation’s gun laws are weak
and full of loopholes,” Hwa said. “(This)
is due to the NRA. They’re being hyp
ocritical. If you listen to the NRA,
they’re (taking) credit for background
checks - they fought background checks
for about seven years.”
Hwa said she supported the bill,
including gun control measures passed
by the Senate in May. “It closes up the
gun-show loophole,” she said.
of mediation helps to curve violence.”
The incidents at Page have decreased
from 125 arrests dining three months in
1994 to about 25 to 30 arrests at this
time.
Dixon said these reductions were a
result of the Governor’s Task Force
Against School Violence and the pro
grams it had encouraged such as “Teens,
Crime and Community."
Dr. Pam Riley, executive director of
the Center for Prevention of School
Violence, said this program for middle
schools and high schools helped stu
dents to understand law and help pre
vent them from being victims.
“We have 130 sites participating in
the program that involves three parts,”
she said. “There is a textbook for class
room use, involvement of outside
resources such as judges and police offi-
Powers said new gun control laws
were not an appropriate response to the
recent rise in school shootings. “Taking
a firearm to school couldn’t be more ille
gal than it already is,” he said.
But Hwa said that although taking a
firearm to school was illegal, at that
point it was often too late.
“You have to prevent people from
getting the gun in the first place, whether
it’s children or criminals,” she said.
Hwa cited an incident on April 7
when four guns were found in the gym
bag of an eighth-grader in Texas. Three
of the four guns were loaded.
“We need responsibility on the part of
the gun owners," she said.
State-Level Initiatives
States are also responding to public
pressure by taking matters into their
own hands.
On April 3, Massachusetts became
the first state to implement legislation
applying consumer protection stan
dards to guns, including required
childproof locks and tamper-resis
tant serial numbers.
When added to existing legisla-
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cers and service activities to connect the
students back to the community such as
cleaning up graffiti.”
Riley said since 1993, the possession
of firearms on school campuses had
decreased from 68 percent. j
“The pro-active efforts and Governor
Hunt’s initiatives are taking us in the
right direction,” Riley said. “There'are
no guarantees, but we are reducing the
potential.”
But violence will forever lurk, no mat
ter how hard the school system or jhe
police works at curbing it, Stephenson
said.
“When you talk about the Columbine
tragedy, I can’t give you an ideal model
where that can’t happen.”
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
tion, the new laws make
Massachusetts the state with the
strictest firearm laws in the country.
One day later, Maryland passed
the bill that included built-in locks.
In North Carolina, Gov. Jim Hunt
has supported several school safety ini
tiatives during the past year.
Last June, Hunt signed into law a bill
that prohibits students and school
employees from carrying a gun- on
school property or at a school
Another bill passed last year would
revoke the driver’s licenses of high
school students charged with certain
violent acts or chug offenses on camjjus.
Also, Hunt’s recent Working Against
Violence Everywhere program will set
up a 24-hour tip line for anyone to
report potential violent acts at schools.
The program will also educate students
and parents to see early warning sighs.
The Center for the Prevention of
School Violence in Raleigh works close
ly with Hunt on school safety issues.
Dr. Pam Riley, director of the
Center, said new regulations would go
into effect in July requiring every school
district to have an “alternative school”
for students who are expelled or Sus
pended. “It will allow us to provide
structured learning (for these studerits)
and integrate them back into the educa
tional mainstream,” she said.
Officials said these initiatives were
already proving beneficial.
Riley cited a study indicating that the
number of students bringing firearms to
school had decreased by 68 percent in
the past seven years.
Also, possession of a firearm at
school fell 10 percent in the 1998-99
school year from the previous. “What
we’re doing is working,” Riley said. *
Another Alternative
But for the violence that does occur,
many leaders and activists want to hold
gun manufacturers at least partly
responsible.
This March, gun manufacturer Smith
& Wesson agreed to include safety locks
with all handguns. In exchange, the ted
eral government will drop all pending
lawsuits against the company.
The NRA immediately attacked
Smith & Wesson on grounds that (the
deal was little more than government
blackmail. “It was a pure sell-out by a
British-owned company,” Powers said-
Also in March, Rep. Bill McColliUn,
R-Florida, introduced a bill called
“Project Exile." The bill would provide
SIOO million during the next five years
as an incentive for states to aggressive
ly prosecute gun crimes and sentence
offenders more stricdy.
Powers said the NRA was in com
plete support of McCollum’s bill. 2
“To be honest, the NRA is the reasdn
that’s there,” Powers said. “We’ve beejn
talking about it for three years - we're
very, very supportive.”
But others disagree.
“The NRA is trying to take creditfor
(Project Exile),” said Hwa, who also
supports the program.
Yet Hwa and other gun control advo
cates insist even more measures • aiie
needed than those in the bill. “Projeit
Exile only kicks in once a crime’s beeh
committed,” Hwa said. “In addition to
punishment, you also need preventative
laws - the two go hand-in-hand.”
Another item on the front-burner js
so-called “smart gun” technology, which
allows only the authorized user to fire
their weapons.
There are several options in produc
ing such guns - fingerprint sensors, on
handgun triggers, magnetic rings worn
on the hand of revolver users, voicto
activated handguns and devices that
only respond to a preprogrammed hand
pressure.
But critics say that in moments 0f
panic a gun owner might not be able to
place his finger in the correct position
for identification. Also, a person hiding
from an intruder in his own home could
easily give away his hiding place if thp
gun required voice-activation.
With the debate still swirling, it y s
probably no surprise that Congressional
leaders remain locked in a stalemate,
and the deadlock continues to frustrate
people on both sides of the issue. !
“It became obvious last summer fhat
the White House would rather have this
as a political issue going into the (200 Q)
elections,” Powers said.
Hwa also wanted to see a consensus
reached but one for stricter gun control.
“Our focus is on bringing some san
ity to the gun laws in this country.” *-
The State & National Editor cah bk
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.