Louis Freedberg

Louis Freedberg

When will we ever larn?

Almost a quarter century ago, California experienced the horror of an elementary schoolhouse massacre when 5 children were killed at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton.

In that traumatic January 1989 result, barely remembered except among those whose lives were direct touched by the tragedy, Patrick Purdy, a so-called "drifter" with a long criminal tape and a history of mental disturbance, entered the school grounds during recess and shot to decease 5 children from Southeast Asian refugee families – Rathanar Or, 9; Ram Chun, 8; Sokhim An, 6; Oeun Lim, 8; and Thuy Tran, vi – injured 29 others, and and then killed himself.

Sound familiar?

The shootings triggered the usual outpouring of outrage – and the California Legislature actually responded. Information technology passed the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Command Human activity of 1989, the first state-level police force to ban the possession, auction and industry of a long listing of assault weapons in California. It was signed into constabulary by Republican Governor George Deukmejian.

Over the years, California has passed numerous other bills, and today information technology is the only state to get a 4-star rating for its gun control laws from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Not surprisingly, the Roberti-Roos bill was challenged in court, resulting in a ready of prohibitions that are exceedingly complex to follow, as a review of the California Department of Justice's webpage shows, raising questions well-nigh its effectiveness. (For details on the Roberti-Roos legislation, become here.)

The DOJ site declares that as a event of the legislation "AK and AR-15 series weapons are unlawful for auction after August 16, 2000, fifty-fifty if their attack weapon characteristics are removed."

Yet an online ad for a Sacramento gun shop with the chillingly coincidental name Newtown Firearms describes itself equally " Sacramento'due south premiere AR-15 and tactical semi machine rifle dealer." Information technology shows that things are not as clear cut as state authorities merits. "If you are trying to purchase an AR-15 in California, yous accept come to the right identify," the gun shop tells prospective customers. (In fact, the Internet is filled with sites like this 1 providing advice on how to get around California'southward ban on the weapon.)

And despite California's top ranking for its gun control laws, the state's feel underscores the limited potential of states to protect children – and adults – from the deadly impact of firearms. Just this year, another deadly attack in an pedagogy institution occurred in Oakland when a former student at a small Korean Christian university killed seven people and injured three more.

According to the Centers for Disease Command, 138 children under the age of xviii were murdered in California in 2010, the last year for which figures have been compiled. Xiv of those homicides were of children under the age of 12. Those figures don't include the many more wounded as a result of intentional gunfire – or the 11,078 people of all ages killed nationally in 2010 by assailants wielding guns.

Information technology is too notable that when it comes to efforts to regulate weaponry, Connecticut is not far behind California. Ranked fifth in the nation, it is one of only four states to get a 3-star rating from the Brady Centre. Notwithstanding the Sandy Claw Elementary massacre took identify at that place – in a school that had rigorous security measures in place, probably more than in well-nigh schools. Equally of this writing, reports say that Adam Lanza carried out his killings with weapons, including an AR-15 rifle, which appear to take been purchased legally – just as those used in the Stockton killings were in 1989.

Clearly what is needed is a national response, not a piecemeal land-by-land approach. Whatever is done has to go far beyond just reinstatement of the long-expired federal assault weapons ban that California Senator Dianne Feinstein is championing, although that would be a skillful start.

President Obama'due south emotional speech in Newtown concluding nighttime could well signal the start of a serious effort to regulate weapons that can take the lives of 20 first graders in minutes. "We tin can't tolerate this anymore," he said. "The tragedies must cease. And to end them, we must change."

With two young children of his own, and ensconced in the White House for a second term, Obama must now make this a key cause of his presidency. So far, he has fallen terribly short on the issue.

Getting a threescore-vote majority in the Senate, and bulk back up in the Firm of Representatives, for any meaningful reforms will exist extraordinarily difficult. Teachers, PTAs and all others who work in our schools will have to come together to push Congress to approve legislation that creates safer environments for our children – and people of all ages.

"No single constabulary, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the earth or forestall every senseless act of violence in our society, but that can't be an excuse for inaction," President Obama said final night. "Surely we tin do amend than this."

Surely we can. Whether we volition is another question altogether.

Louis Freedberg is executive director of EdSource.

To become more reports like this i, click here to sign upwardly for EdSource'south no-toll daily email on latest developments in education.