SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - Students being more aware of their surroundings is a helpful tool in dealing with school violence, according to the Utah Education Association. Student safety is again a national topic after a 12-year-old boy fatally shot his math teacher, Michael Landsberry, at Sparks Middle School in Nevada on Monday. He also wounded two other students before taking his own life.
Mike Kelley, communications director, Utah Education Association (UEA), said students can help stop violence by being more aware of their surroundings and reporting suspicious behavior.
"If they are checking their surroundings and being cognizant of their fellow students, and teachers, and others who are coming into the school, when these things happen, it just increases awareness," Kelley said.
President Obama pushed for more gun control after the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults.
Despite the deadly shootings, Kelley said, schools are still a safe place for kids.
"Yes, statistically, students are safer in school than just about anywhere else they could be, whether at home or at the park," he said.
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Grassroots organizations are sounding the alarm about Tennessee's new law allowing teachers and other school employees to carry guns.
Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 1325 Friday and it took effect immediately.
More than 450 children have lost their lives to gun violence in the U.S. this year.
Cathy Barnett, legislative lead for the Tennessee chapter of Moms Demand Action, predicted the new law will not enhance school safety. She noted the community worked to get an extreme-risk protection order passed after the Covenant School shooting but Republicans passed legislation this year blocking local governments from passing their own versions of such protection orders.
"Already, we have seen the largest counties say no, they are not going to implement it," Barnett pointed out. "They trust their law enforcement, they trust that they have SROs already in their schools. They feel like the dangers are just too much."
Barnett added even some smaller counties have said they will not implement it. Supporters of the new Tennessee law argued it will make schools safer.
Becky Hansen, a Covenant School parent who testified at a March 27 House hearing, cried when describing how her 5-year-old son's teacher saved her students, and said giving her a gun would have just made the situation worse.
"Our teacher had the wherewithal, when she realized that what they thought they needed to do for a fire alarm was actually an active shooter, to turn it into a race, to not scare my 5-year-old," Hansen recounted. "There is no way that my sweet teacher could have also held and properly ejected a weapon."
Barnett said more than 70% of the parents and teachers her group surveyed do not want the law. She added in the past 11 years of testifying before committees, some lawmakers still fail to adequately understand gun violence prevention measures.
"They're not listening to the research at all," Barnett contended. "The research shows normally, on the whole, a mass shooter, most of the time has some affiliation with that school in some way. They don't come because it's a 'gun-free zone,' which the Republicans like to say."
She pointed out concerns armed individuals may automatically resort to shooting, potentially harming people unintentionally and noted a student might also gain access to a gun if there are more firearms at schools.
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Well over three-fourths of Americans support universal background checks for gun purchases, but federal law allows unlicensed people to sell guns at gun shows and online without one.
Sixteen states now require background checks for gun sales by licensed and unlicensed sellers but Nebraska is not one of them.
The Biden administration is taking a step to close the gun show loophole. By mid-May, a broader definition of who is a gun dealer, and thus required to conduct background checks, will go into effect.
Melody Vaccaro, executive director of Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, said the broadened definition will not affect true "hobbyists," such as antique gun collectors.
"The main way that it goes between a hobbyist and a gun dealer is if someone is selling guns regularly for money," Vaccaro explained. "If monetization is the driver of the gun sales."
Nearly a dozen different violations make people ineligible to purchase or possess a gun under federal law. And since the federal background check system was initiated in 1998, it has stopped nearly 5 million illegal gun purchases.
Those who oppose expanding background checks believe additional regulations burden law-abiding citizens and do not stop potentially dangerous people from getting firearms.
Vaccaro acknowledged it may be true, but is not a reason to stop trying. She hopes the change will help Nebraskans discover their common ground on this issue.
"Everybody is worried about gun violence. Everybody's worried about mass shootings. Everybody's wondering how we can do better; everybody's wondering that," Vaccaro emphasized. "That's not a political party conversation; that is actually something we all share."
And Vaccaro expects most Nebraskans will welcome an increase in the percentage of gun sales to include a background check.
"It is just so basic; it's so pragmatic," Vaccaro contended. "I really would be surprised if there was authentic pushback from everyday people, who are not lobbyists or directly profiting from the gun industry in some way."
Nebraska law regulates handgun sales by both licensed and unlicensed sellers, but private sellers can sell a long gun without a background check.
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Background checks on those who purchase firearms at gun shows may soon be expanded.
The Justice Department last week issued a directive to close the so-called "gun show loophole." A final rule submitted to the Federal Register changes the definition of firearm sellers, ultimately requiring they obtain a federal firearms license to sell guns at gun shows, flea markets and over the internet.
Miranda Viscoli, co-president of New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, welcomed the new rule.
"There is no reason why anybody should be able to walk into any gun show in the United States of America, if there's not a background check law at the state level, and be able to purchase firearms, no questions asked," Viscoli contended.
The new rule would classify around 23,000 vendors as licensed firearms dealers, making their gun sales subject to checks. The Biden administration has said the rule does not conflict with the Second Amendment, but two Republican senators have already announced plans to introduce a joint resolution to overturn the rule.
Earlier this year, New Mexico lawmakers approved, and the governor signed, several firearms-related bills. One prohibits guns within 100-feet of polling places during a state election. And Viscoli said another bill could reduce the number of sales at gun shows.
"In New Mexico, and this does pertain to gun shows, we just passed a seven-day hold on the sale of firearms," Viscoli noted. "That's going to make it very difficult for gun shows because they would have to mail those guns to people."
In starting her position in 2013, Viscoli attended gun shows to see how easy or difficult it was to buy guns. Despite telling dealers she had forgotten her driver's license and had no identification, she said she was assured it wouldn't be a problem. Ten years later, she believes the proliferation of guns is out of control.
"It's coming to define who we are both as a state in New Mexico and as a country," Viscoli observed. "I mean, when gun violence is a leading cause of death for young people, I don't know why we're not sitting at the table and figuring, 'What the heck do we do about this?'"
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