CHILD WATCH™ COLUMN

THE LATEST WAVE OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS:  WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR US TO PROTECT CHILDREN INSTEAD OF GUNS?

By Marian Wright Edelman

Once again, a new series of deadly school shootings has left Americans in shock and mourning and asking what went wrong.  This time, three terrible incidents took place within a week of each other:  the assault of six girls and the murder of 16-year-old Emily Keyes in Bailey, Colorado on September 27; the murder of John Klang, the high school principal shot to death by a 15-year-old freshman in Cazenovia, Wisconsin on September 29; and the devastating mass murder after 10 young Amish girls were taken hostage and five were killed in their one-room schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania on October 2.   In both Colorado and Pennsylvania, the girls were victimized by adults who had come to their schools specifically to abuse and kill them.  Many people were especially heartbroken by the attack on the Amish children, who are part of such a peaceful, nonviolent tradition.  I was moved to tears by the tremendous grace and love the Amish community displayed by having members choose to attend the shooter’s funeral in a spirit of forgiveness.  Each of these children believed their school was a safe place.  None of them deserved to die.

Gun violence in American life is a deadly plague that keeps recurring.  Every so often, the stories are terrible enough to fill the headlines and grab our attention.  When 12 students and a teacher were killed and 23 others were wounded at Columbine High School in April 1999, the whole world took note.   A few other names and stories probably bring back memories:  the three students killed and five wounded during a morning Bible study time at their school in West Paducah, Kentucky.  Kip Kinkel, the 15-year-old who shot and killed his parents and then went to school and killed two students and injured 25 more in Springfield, Oregon.  Kayla Rolland, the 6-year-old who was shot by a fellow first-grader at their elementary school in Michigan after they’d had a disagreement. Each of these incidents brought a lot of media attention for a moment along with and a fresh wave of shock and outrage.  But then our leaders and citizens went right back to business as usual. 

Dozens of other names and places have already been forgotten.   How many Americans remember 17-year-old James Richardson, shot to death during second period by another student at his Washington, D.C. high school in February 2004?  Or the shooting of 10-year-old Faheem Thomas-Childs just nine days later, who was fatally injured after he was caught in a gun battle between rival gangs outside T.M. Peirce Elementary School in Philadelphia?  Every month, every year, the list goes on and on.   Many school shootings don’t even make the headlines at all.

What will make the most recent murders any different?  After all, unless our nation makes serious changes, it’s unlikely these three attacks will be the last.  They’ve just served as another reminder to parents and students everywhere that the next headlines about a shooting at school could come from any suburb, any small town, any school—maybe even their own. When the horrific D.C.-area sniper shootings were taking place in the fall of 2002, the snipers—whose victims had included a 13-year-old middle school student shot and injured as he walked into his school—left this terrifying note:  "Your children are not safe anywhere at any time." Even though the suspects in that case have long been behind bars, the chilling threat to our nation’s children is still far too true.

             Every year, the Children’s Defense Fund releases a report on gun violence against children.  The latest report showed 2,827 children and teens—including 56 preschoolers--died from gun violence in 2003, the most recent year for which data is available.  The U.S. has the immoral distinction of having the highest rate of child firearm deaths in the industrialized world.  The rate of firearm deaths among children under age 15 is far higher in the U.S. than in 25 other industrialized countries­ combined.  What is it going to take to make us wake up and come to our senses and stop gun violence?  When will we demand common sense gun safety measures?  And when will we make changes to our violence-hyped culture and protect our children from music, T.V. shows and video games that glamorize violence or make it socially acceptable and fun?  Our children are not safe, in their schools or anywhere else and adults are not doing enough to protect them—from us or from each other.

            It’s time to value our children more than guns.

Marian Wright Edelman is President and Founder of the Children's Defense Fund and its Action Council whose Leave No Child Behind^® mission is to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities.

Jodi Reid

Children's Defense Fund

Media Associate

(202) 662-3602

Fax: (202) 662-3550

Be a voice for children! Visit CDF's website at: www.childrensdefense.org.