Posted on 09/25/2003 1:25:07 PM PDT by jdege
Press Release Source: Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund
Thursday September 25, 3:03 pm ET
ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a comment by Rebecca Thoman, M.D., Executive Director of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund: Our condolences go to the families involved in yesterday's terrible tragedy at Rocori High School. The entire Cold Spring community will, no doubt, feel the devastating affects for some time.
Details about the incident and its causes are still surfacing, so little can be said about the specifics of the case. But larger questions emerge. Why do we allow our young people easy access to handguns? How do we accept the proliferation of lethal weapons in our communities?
Most children who use guns to kill themselves or others, obtain the weapons from their own home or the home of a friend or relative. One out of six Americans keeps a handgun in the home, many unlocked, some even loaded. A survey of Hennepin County residents showed that of families with children under age 16 and a gun in the home, a full one-third admitted to storing their weapon unlocked and, in some instances, loaded.
Most families who keep a handgun in the home do so for protection. But, according to medical research, guns in the home are more often used to kill a family member than to be used in self-defense [Journal of Trauma, 1998.] Clinging to the belief that a readily available handgun protects us, we place our children and communities at risk.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that guns be removed from environments where children are present. We agree. Parents should reassess their need to keep a weapon in the home, and be sure that firearms kept for sport are securely locked.
What drives a child to murder his classmates? The answers are complex. But the simple truth is that access to a gun can turn a desperate situation into a tragedy.
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Source: Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund
Public schools should return the "one room schoolhouse" model, where younger children are exposed to older as role models, older children are helping younger children to learn, and they all grow up through this process exposed to all these changes in age relationships, much like they would in a large family setting.
Segregating them into age groups leaves them with nothing but each other to emulate. The outcomes are unpredictable. An unusually strong leader in the group, with mature attitude and good morals (somewhat rare these days although), can move an entire class to excel, and vice versa, one lousy bully, can ruin an entire class and turn them all into little juvenile delinquents!
Putting your children in public school becomes a crap shoot. Good luck!
My home is the same way. My children have fired all of them and know that it doesn't take much to get me to the range; all they have to do is ask.
These people don't use logic. For example, I don't want my children to drown so my wife and I have seen to it that they are accomplished swimmers. If they see an unattended swimming pool they are no more likely to jump in than I am. The kids that were kept away from pools and swimming are likely to jump in…………and drown.
Not teaching children to swim to protect them from drowning makes the same sense as not teaching them about firearms and safety to "protect" them from playing with a gun.
We don't.
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