>
> High-Schoolers Debate Gun Issue
> Associated Press
> Last Updated: March 27, 2001 at 8:43:27 p.m.
> WASHINGTON – One 17-year-old looks forward to getting his first hunting
> revolver. Another says guns are too available. But they agree America’s
> teens are not as prone to violence as the rash of school shootings might
> suggest.
>
> “They focus way too much on that,” said Noelle Nelson of Hot Springs,
> S.D., who favors less availability. “School kids are getting a very bad
> rap,” said Andrew Salisbury of Easton, Mass., who looks forward to his
> 21st birthday, which brings with it his eligibility for a hunting
> license.
>
> In an unusual platform for the gun control debate, 200 teen-agers from
> around the country peppered a National Rifle Association lobbyist and a
> gun-control advocate Tuesday with tough questions on weapons and school
> safety.
>
> The event was organized by Close-Up, a Washington-area group that
> promotes greater youth involvement in politics, and the students hailed
> from Massachusetts, Arizona, Iowa, the Dakotas and Michigan.
>
> John Frazer, the NRA lobbyist, and Michael Beard, spokesman for the
> Coalition to Stop Handgun Violence, fielded detailed questions about
> safety locks, state versus federal legislation and the dangers of
> unregulated gun show purchases.
>
> Some questioners came prepared with statistics showing a decline in
> school violence. The most recent Department of Education figures show 34
> violent deaths in schools in 1998-99, as opposed to the high of 49
> deaths in 1995-96.
>
> When politicians and lobbyists of both sides focus on that violence, the
> students said, they inadvertently encourage it.
>
> “There was a rash of copycats after Columbine, because that’s all they
> showed,” said Nelson. The April 1999 Columbine shootings in Colorado
> left a teacher and 14 students dead, including the two attackers.
>
> Beard, who speaks to students across the country, said he’s noticed that
> many are becoming defensive about the issue.
>
> “They feel the media focuses too much on the negative side,” he said
> after the debate. “It’s why I included that upbeat stuff.” He began
> his address by congratulating the youths for their involvement in the
> debate.
>
> Frazer said the students’ reactions confirmed one of his central
> debating points: “America has never been safer – crime, violence,
> accidents have all declined.”
>
> Still, school violence cropped up frequently in questions; this month,
> two students were killed and 18 wounded in two incidents in the San
> Diego area.
>
> “I find kids have been asking more substantive questions since
> Columbine,” Beard said.
>
> Dakota Bixler said the debate was especially relevant in her hometown,
> South Dakota’s capital, Pierre. It was nicknamed “the U.S. suicide
> capital” for a proliferation of teen suicides several years ago – among
> them, some of her classmates.
>
> “America has a long way to go when it comes to guns,” she said.
>
> Beard told the students that ten Americans aged 15 or under die from
> gunfire each day, and that the key to preventing their deaths is tougher
> legislation; Frazer said guns are necessary for self-defense, and the
> laws on the book, if adequately enforced, would roll back gun-related
> homicides.
>
> Frazer said the NRA opposes safety locks legislation, because it’s
> impossible to mandate a uniform lock for all guns. Beard said federal
> regulation is necessary to tie up myriad loopholes in state laws; Frazer
> preferred keeping legislation at the state and local level. Beard said
> unregulated sales at gun shows pose a threat; Frazer said only 2 percent
> of guns sold at such shows end up in criminal hands.
>
> Both speakers were peppered with tough, detailed questions, but Frazer
> drew criticism from NRA supporters as well as gun-control activists for
> opposing any kind of controls.
>
> One repeated question: if driver’s ed is mandatory, why not gun-handling
> classes? Frazer said voluntary gun-safety classes, such as those offered
> by the NRA, produce better results.
>
> Youths from larger cities tended to support more restrictions on guns,
> while those from smaller towns and rural areas backed more access.
>
> “People kill people,” said April Pearce, of Glendale, Ariz.,
> admonishing Beard for not paying attention to the “demoralizing” of
> America.
>
> Salisbury, the Easton, Mass., youth, said some gun restrictions are
> needed, but Beard’s proposed ban on all handguns is too restrictive. He
> looks forward to the challenge of hunting bear and moose with a Magnum
> .44.
>
> “You want a handgun ready when you face a charging bear,” he said.