POTENTIAL TRAGEDY SHOULD BE A WAKE-UP CALL
By: State Sen. Connie Williams

 A potential tragedy was avoided this week when (thankfully) the Plymouth Township police took seriously a reported threat of violence by a 14-year-old teen. Ironically, this incident happened just weeks before observance of National Safe Schools Week (Oct. 21 through 27^th).

 According to the media account of the incident, the home-schooled boy was taken into custody and police found a variety of weapons, including an assault rifle, air guns, hand grenades (one that was working), explosive powder, a book on making bombs and a video of the Columbine shooting.

 The account should raise numerous questions for all of us, from how a 14-year-old was able to obtain an assault rifle, explosive powder and hand grenades, to the unthinkable – what would have happened had another student and his parent not alerted police and the police not taken the threat seriously.

 Rather than wading into the causes of the thwarted violence (such as student bullying), I'd like to make two important points: 1. Assault weapons should be banned; 2. Parents have an important role to play in keeping children safe by asking about the presence of guns in the homes their children visit.

 Though I do not support any effort to take away a law-abiding citizen's right to own and carry a firearm, I do believe that government has a responsibility to debate and enact common sense gun proposals.

 Since Congress allowed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban to expire in September 2004, I have introduced and re-introduced legislation (S.B. 48 of the current legislative session) that would reinstate the original federal-level ban in Pennsylvania and address loopholes in that law that allowed the gun manufacturers to market copies of banned guns with minor design changes.

While the ban may not have been perfect, it did serve as a deterrent. Statistics showed that after the ban went into effect in 1994, firearm deaths declined by 25 percent (from 1994 to 2001). Certainly, it was not solely because of the ban, but the ban did play a large role in reducing the numbers.

It is time for Pennsylvania to join other states who have enacted state-level bans of these weapons, which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have said are not "particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes." It shouldn't take a tragedy to drive home the need to ban these weapons, which obviously are finding their way into the hands of our young people.

It seems like common sense that we would want to ban assault weapons. It is also common sense that we would want to know where our children are playing and if the people who live there are responsible gun owners.

According to one estimate, there are guns in approximately 33 percent to 40 percent of American households. One out of three handguns are kept loaded and unlocked. Nearly all childhood unintended shooting deaths occur in or around the home (half of them in the home and 40 percent in the home of a friend or relative). Gun violence claims the lives of eight children and teens every day.

The presence of a gun in the home triples the risk of homicide in the home. The presence of a gun in the home increases the risk of suicide fivefold.

Gun violence should not be a political football, but should be considered a public health and safety matter. One non-profit organization, PAX (http://paxusa.org), has been working to implement common sense strategies into reducing gun violence. It is now the largest non-lobbying group dedicated to the gun violence issue.

I mention PAX, because they have two very valuable programs that all parents and young people should know about: ASK and SPEAK UP.

Through ASK (Asking Saves Kids), parents are being encouraged to talk to other parents about the guns in the home as a routine part of parenting. Simply stated, parents are asking their children's friends parents if there are guns in their homes and if those guns are unloaded and locked safely away from the children.

How many tragedies have occurred because children were curious about guns, or thought a gun was unloaded? On most of these occasions, the parents will tell you that they thought the gun was hidden or safely stored. There is something parents can do to prevent their child from becoming the next statistic – just ask if there are guns present in a home, before your child visits there.

The other program, SPEAK UP has direct implications on this week's potential tragedy. Through SPEAK UP, a national hotline was established for students to report weapon-related threats in their schools and neighborhoods. By calling 1-866-SPEAK-UP, a young person can anonymously report a threat.

SPEAK UP empowers young people to prevent school violence.