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NEA Communications 202 822-7200

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 1999

Statement of Bob Chase
NEA President
on Georgia Shooting
and Need for Stricter Gun Laws

Our hearts and prayers go out to the students, teachers, parents and families of the victims of the shooting today at Heritage High School, outside Conyers, Georgia. We join all Americans in hoping for a complete recovery of the injured children.

We all hoped against hope that the tragic shooting at Columbine High School one month ago today would be the last time this nation had to see the faces of children fleeing from a school in panic. The last time we would hear horrific stories of children shooting classmates. The last time we would have to comfort parents, children and teachers in the aftermath. We hoped. But we feared it wouldn't be the last. For despite the good intentions, the discussion about safety precautions, the coming together of law enforcement, schools and the community in search of answers, the bottom line is that today, guns in America are still much too easily falling into the hands of children.

Congress cannot continue to throw up roadblocks to passage of desperately needed, common-sense gun laws. How many more students - children - must be maimed or killed before sensible gun laws are passed?

Today, the National Education Association and its 2.4 million members call on Congress to take immediate action on the Children's Gun Violence Prevention Act of 1999 and other pending legislation to keep guns out of the hands of children. Congress must:

• Establish a Federal Child Access Prevention (CAP) law holding adults responsible if a child gains access to a loaded firearm that has not been properly stored and uses it in the commission of a crime;

• Require that child safety locks and devices be sold with all new handguns purchased in the United States;

• Outlaw the transfer to and possession of semi-automatic assault rifles and large capacity ammunition magazines by juveniles;

• Reinstitute the Brady Law's minimum three-day waiting period for handgun purchases;

• Close the "gun show," "pawn shop," and all other loopholes by mandating background checks of gun purchasers at these venues;

• Raise the age of handgun possession to 21 years of age;

• Extend the Brady Law's background check requirements to the purchase of explosives;

• Reduce illegal gun trafficking by limiting gun purchases to one per month;

• Create anonymous tiplines so that students will feel free to alert adults to potential problems.

For too long, Congress and our state legislators have been cowed by the gun lobby. Now is the time for them to show some courage. No excuses. No loopholes. They owe it to the students of Springfield, Edinboro, Jonesboro, West Paducah, Pearl, Bethel, Moses Lake, Littleton, Conyers, and children in every community. So do we.

Our children need moral direction. But they need more. Our children need a safe and healthy environment in which to grow. At the end of the day, a good moral upbringing will not stop a bullet. Today, we must all take responsibility and personal action to stop gun violence.