-Caveat Lector-
Congress Reacts to School Shootings
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers reacted Wednesday to the Colorado shootings by
dusting off stalled proposals for improved school security and urging
passage of tougher gun control laws. Some members of Congress are seeking a
``national dialogue'' on school violence and asking for more prayer in
schools.
``We should not wait for another incident to happen before we take some
action,'' said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.
He is sponsoring a bill that would set aside $10 million so schools could
benefit from security measures developed at the Energy Department's Sandia
National Laboratories in New Mexico. Examples include electronic
identification cards for students, instant drug detection equipment and
mechanisms to prevent false fire alarms.
Bingaman said an Albuquerque, N.M., high school participating in a pilot
project with the lab has seen dramatic declines in violent, property and
other crimes since 1997.
Fifteen people were killed Tuesday in the shootings at a high school in the
Denver suburb of Littleton.
The killings prompted gun control advocates to renew calls for stricter gun
laws.
``A teen-ager can only do so much damage with his fists,'' said Sen.
Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
But Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga., the National Rifle Association's chief advocate
in Congress, said the problems that create ``young demons'' like the
Colorado shooters ``go far deeper'' than access to guns.
He said Congress and the president only can do so much. ``The solution's
going to have to come from our schools,'' Barr said.
John Czwartacki, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.,
noted Congress had set aside $60 million last year for a program to station
police officers in schools.
Sen. Jim Jeffords, R-Vt., chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and
Pensions Committee, plans to go ahead with school safety hearings that
already had been scheduled for May.
One colleague, GOP Sen. John Ashcroft of Missouri, said Congress must
re-examine federal laws that interfere with a school's ability to prevent
such incidents.
Another lawmaker, Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Wash., urged consideration of her
proposal encouraging states to detain juveniles for at least 24 hours for
bringing guns to school.
But she, too, said a solution to the deadly combination of schools,
students and guns lies not with Congress. Parents must be more involved
with their children, she said.
``We need to talk to our children after they get home from school every
night, at the dinner table, on weekends to find out what they're thinking,
what they're feeling,'' Dunn said.
Others called for a national discussion of school violence.
``We need to sit down together, and soon, to begin a meaningful
conversation about the practical and concrete steps to be taken to prevent
these tragedies,'' said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, where a
16-year-old is accused of killing his parents and fatally shooting two
classmates at a high school in Springfield last May.
Added Rep. Tim Roemer, D-Ind.: ``Let us have and engage in a national
dialogue to stop this hatred and violence in our schools.''
>From Rep. James Traficant Jr., D-Ohio, came a call for more prayer in
school. ``People who pray together are not likely ... to kill one
another,'' he said.
Also Wednesday, the shootings at Columbine High School led two Colorado
state lawmakers to withdraw gun proposals from the current legislative
calendar.
One measure, by Republican state Rep. Gary McPherson, would let state law
override local ordinances on gun control.
McPherson said he acted ``out of deference to the victims and their
families. Now is not the time to have this debate.''
The Colorado House's majority leader, GOP state Rep. Doug Dean, was
sponsoring a bill to simplify the issuance of permits for concealed
weapons.
Dean reported receiving calls at his Colorado Springs home, some of them
with ``veiled threats,'' after the Littleton shootings.
--------------
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Maybe this disaster would have been cut short if all the adults in the
school had exercised their 2nd Amendment right and been armed.
It's not a gun problem, it's a moral problem.
Blame the idiots who took the standard "thou shalt not kill" out of the
schools and replaced it with the "do your own thing" standard.
The trenchcoat mafia kids were just doing their own thing, leave 'em alone.
Thank you, socialist bastards of America, you taught them well.
America, you're falling fast......
--------------
And they came in, and possessed it; but they obeyed not thy voice,
neither walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou
commandedst them to do: therefore thou hast caused all this evil to
come upon them:
-Jeremiah 32:23
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