BRACK: Make our schools safer with real gun reform

By Andy Brack, editor and publisher  |  This time, it feels like something about guns is going to happen.  After the Parkland slaughter of 17 students and teachers, inaction doesn’t seem to be a viable automatic political reflex for mass gun violence.

Maybe the nation has reached a tipping point, thanks to thousands of Florida students who marched on the state’s capital to pressure lawmakers to make common-sense reforms to curb the gun violence.

“The times have clearly changed,” University of South Florida political science professor Susan MacManus told a Tallahassee newspaper.  “And the activism of the students and their parents and grandparents and everyone else has made this a bigger issue and a much more politically impactful issue. I think it has ramifications for any partisan race from the top of the ticket down to local races.”

Never again, these students shout, reminding people of shootings that left too many people dead in places like Las Vegas last year, Orlando, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, Sutherland Springs, and, yes, Charleston.

During a White House listening session this week, an anguished father whose daughter died in Parkland captivated the nation with a simple question:  “How many schools, how many children have to get shot?”

In South Carolina, little has been done at the Statehouse to curb gun violence since the 2015 massacre at Emanuel AME Church that took the lives of nine people, including the church’s pastor, state Sen. Clementa Pinckney.

But maybe inaction is changing.  State Rep. Marvin Pendarvis, D-North Charleston, filed a bill Tuesday that would require monthly “active shooter” drills at South Carolina public schools.  A bill authored last year by S.C. Sen. Sandy Senn, R-Charleston, would make it illegal to threaten violence against a school. It moved out of a Senate subcommittee Thursday. Other measures call for metal detectors or schools or all-out bans on assault weapons.

“If Congress refuses to do something, then we have to do something on the state level,” said Pendarvis, a freshman legislator.  “We have no choice. … The conversation has got to be had.  I believe we’ve reached that tipping point.”

It’s encouraging President Trump is now supporting the ban of bump stocks that convert rifles into machine guns.  But another idea he floated – to arm teachers in schools – is not the solution America needs, particularly when bullets cost more than the pencils that teachers often pay for with their own money.  The solution is not to arm teachers if you note the example of the armed Parkland officer who found a safe place and did nothing as 17 students and teachers died.

According to a 2017 report by the Pew Research Center, people across the nation – Republicans and Democrats – want something done about gun violence.  More than 90 percent say gun violence is a very big or moderately big problem, including 74 percent of gun owners.  Furthermore, 86 percent of Americans say the ease of getting illegal guns contributes a great deal to gun violence, while 60 percent say the ease of getting legal guns contributes a lot to gun violence.

There is a plethora of policy proposals nationally that people strongly or somewhat favor to thwart gun violence, including keeping people with mental illness from buying guns (89 percent in favor); requiring background checks at gun shows and at private sales (84 percent); banning assault-style weapons (68 percent) and banning high-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds (65 percent).  The data also show about half of Americans strongly or somewhat favor allowing people to carry concealed weapons in more places (46 percent) and letting teachers and school officials carry guns (45 percent).

Keeping South Carolina schools safe  is a huge priority, said Ryan Brown, spokesman for the S.C. Department of Education.  Currently, state law requires school districts to have a safe school plan.  The state office offers a long checklist of best practices for schools to follow and favors active shooter drills, Brown said.  About three-fourths of districts around the state have periodic drills.

“At some point in time, we are going to see some changes,” Brown observed.

For now, though, students and teachers need to remain vigilant and report anything scary that they see or hear.  Let’s hope something more can be done at the Statehouse so another Parkland doesn’t happen.

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