School Firearms Safety in California: A Reasonable Step

By Betty Karnette
Member
California Assembly

Gun violence in our schools has become an all too common occurrence. Every time a violent incident occurs in a school, such as the shootings at Virginia Tech or Columbine, we are left wondering what we could do to prevent these tragedies.

I believe the first step, and certainly not the last, is to create a gun-free atmosphere on all school campuses. While we do have laws that ban most types of guns in schools, there is a loophole that allows BB and pellet guns on college and university campuses. BB and pellet guns can cause injury to others and, more frightening, look just like “real” guns and will immediately illicit the same response from students and campus police that the possession of a “real” gun would cause.

I have authored a bill to close a bill to close this loophole. Assembly Bill 2470 will prohibit the possession of these guns on all college and university campuses in California. BB and pellet guns are currently prohibited on K-12 campuses and we must offer this same protection to students, faculty and the overall college campus community.

Campus police and students are already on high alert for the possible threat of gun violence due to the numerous tragic campus shootings in recent years. Recognizing this threat, campus police have taken extensive training courses focused on gun violence situational response and must be on constant alert in hope of preventing such a situation. At the first sight of what appears to be a gun, whether it fires bullets or pellets, campus police must and will immediately act to prevent a crisis.

I’ve authored AB 2470 to help ensure that students, faculty and the overall campus community are provided with the safe, gun-free learning environment they deserve. There is no place in our schools for any weapon that can cause injury, vandalism or a potentially violent disruption that puts our students’ lives at risk. As indicated by statistics from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, BB and pellet guns are dangerous.

As many as 21,840 injuries from these types of guns are treated in emergency departments every year. Let’s keep them off all California school campuses.

Comments

Posted by: Nom DePlume at March 28, 2008 07:23 AM

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