-Caveat Lector-
http://www.washtimes.com/commentary/20010906-2105381.htm
Teachers, guns and zero-tolerance
Michelle Malkin
CREATORS SYNDICATE
Published 9/6/01
When the new school year begins, Deena Esteban will not be among the legions of
educators welcoming students back to
class.
That's because Mrs. Esteban, a 43-year-old art teacher in Prince William County,
Va., lost the job she loved after being
convicted of a felony last fall. Her crime? Bringing a gun to school. Mrs. Esteban's
story is a textbook case of zero-tolerance
tyranny. Teachers are the forgotten casualties of the education establishment's
absolutist war on guns.
Mrs. Esteban had never been in trouble with the law. The married mother of two
owned a .38-caliber revolver for
self-defense and like millions of Americans across the country held a valid,
concealed-weapons permit. She carried the gun
when she went out alone, mostly on errands. One fateful night last spring, she put the
gun in her handbag before going out to
entertain her visiting parents. The next morning, she brought the bag to school not
realizing the firearm was still in it, she says.
When she left the bag unattended for a short period in her classroom, a colleague
opened it and found the gun. No one was
hurt. It was an unfortunate accident. Mrs. Esteban says she would never do anything
deliberately to put children in harm's way.
She was willing to accept a reasonable punishment for her mistake.
Virginia makes it a misdemeanor to leave a loaded, unsecured firearm in a manner
that endangers children. Mrs. Esteban
offered to plead guilty to that offense. But it wasn't enough for local prosecutors
bent on "sending a message." Despite
acknowledging that Mrs. Esteban showed no criminal intent, government lawyers threw
the book at her. They charged Mrs.
Esteban with a felony count of possessing a gun on school grounds. A jury convicted
her last October, imposing a $2,500 fine
and 12-month jail sentence. A judge suspended the prison term and slightly reduced the
fine in January, but the incident
continues to wreak havoc on the Esteban family.
Mrs. Esteban's former colleagues ostracized her, and she has been unemployed
since her arrest and conviction, which is
headed to an appeals court next month. "No one wants to hire you when you have to
check the box on the form that says,
'Yes, I have been convicted of a felony,' " Mrs. Esteban notes sadly. "People think
I'm some kind of dirtbag."
This overzealous gun-control policy has also robbed Mrs. Esteban of her privacy
and personal dignity. She cannot travel out
of state without permission. Her DNA is registered in a state database. And the police
released her home address, phone
number and mug shot to the media.
Mrs. Esteban's husband, Philip, now works two jobs to support the family and help
cover their legal bills. He believes this
was "clearly a political prosecution. . . . It's bizarre beyond comprehension that you
can be convicted of merely possessing
something that's constitutionally protected."
Mrs. Esteban's prosecution is not unique. More than 30 states criminalize
possession of firearms on school grounds. Just last
week, Renee Rudenick, a special education instructor in Kent, Wash., was put on trial
for accidentally taking to school a gun
that she had obtained after suffering domestic abuse. Like Mrs. Esteban, Mrs. Rudenick
a 30-year veteran teacher was a
licensed, legal concealed-weapons permit holder. Fortunately, a jury refused to
convict her. But she, too, lost her job.
Now, compare the teachers' plights with that of Albert McCarthy, a Chester
County, Pa., police chief who accidentally left
his Glock semi-automatic on an elementary school bathroom windowsill this spring
during a break from a drug education
lecture. His punishment? A four-day suspension without pay.
Law-enforcement officials are exempt from prosecution for making mistakes, but
teachers licensed to carry concealed
weapons are not. Why? To protect the children, society has deemed that teachers must
not be allowed to protect themselves in
their workplace. The classroom has become a Second Amendment-free zone. So much for
"sensible" gun control.
Copyright � 2001 News World Communications, Inc. All rights
reserved.
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