Six-Year Old Shoots Teacher in Class

Via The New York Times: 

A teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News has “life-threatening injuries” after being shot by one of her students, the authorities said. 

The shooting in Newport News, a city of more than 180,000 people, about 70 miles southeast of Richmond. Va., stunned officials on Friday as they began to investigate what had gone wrong inside the school. 

The superintendent of Newport News Public Schools, Dr. George Parker, said at the news conference that “we need to keep guns out of the hands of our young people.

So because this child has access to guns because of careless, shitty adults, this teacher may die? The rest of the class is forever traumatized? 

The Second Amendment is NOT about this kind of ridiculousness. It's just not.

Meanwhile in San Jose, California:

To reduce gun harm in the City of San José, the Gun Harm Reduction Ordinance requires firearm owners to obtain and maintain liability insurance and pay an annual gun harm reduction fee. The insurance requirement takes effect on January 1, 2023. The gun harm reduction fee is not yet in effect.

What is the Gun Harm Reduction Ordinance?

The full ordinance can be found online here. There are two parts to this ordinance:
  • Liability insurance: This requires San José residents that own or possess a firearm in the City to obtain and continuously maintain a homeowner’s, renter’s or gun liability insurance policy that specifically covers losses or damages resulting from accidental use of the firearm, including but not limited to death, injury, or property damage.
  • Annual gun harm reduction fee: If you live in San José and own or possess a firearm in the City, you must pay an annual gun harm reduction fee to the designated nonprofit organization each year.
  • Who is required to obtain liability insurance?All San José residents that own or possess a firearm in the City.

Comments

Anonymous said…

Liability insurance is an interesting idea. Curious to see its impact over the next year or two.

On another note, curious what folks think about Seattle Schools suing tech giants for social media harm.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/08/1147735477/seattles-schools-are-suing-tech-giants-for-harming-young-peoples-mental-health

BLUE SKY
1/8/23, 7:27 AM
Patrick said…
So what can they do with the 6-year-old? This seems like new legal ground. Too young to really understand the consequences of their actions, too young to participate in their own defense. And what if they are convicted? Too young for even juvenile prison. Back in the house where they obtained the firearm would be a terrible idea too. And what foster home would volunteer to take them?
1/9/23, 11:32 AM
Melissa Westbrook said…
Patrick, clearly the child cannot be prosecuted. But that child needs to go into foster care, stat. I think there are foster families that actually do know how to help kids like this.

No, it's the parents/guardians who should be severely punished. That he brought bullets to school the week before should have gotten more attention.

To note, apparently the teacher is doing better and is expected to live. Now whether she ever teaches again is another issue.
1/9/23, 11:56 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday Open Thread

The speaker list is up for the Board meeting tomorrow; not as packed as I thought with just four people on the waitlist. The majority of the speakers are speaking on high school boundaries (with several wanting to talk about Ballard High). There are only three of us speaking about the Green Dot resolution asking the City to not grant the zoning departures that Green Dot has requested.  It's me, long-time watchdog, Chris Jackins, and the head of the Washington State Charter Schools Association, Patrick D'Amelio.  (I knew Mr. D'Amelio when he headed the Alliance for Education and Big Brothers and Big Sisters; he's a stand-up guy.)
Read more

Breaking It Down: Where the District Might Close Schools

Update 2: an absolutely fabulous interactive map made by parent Beth Day (@thebethocracy on Twitter - she covers Board meetings and is fun to read).   end of update    Update 1: Mea culpa, I did indeed get Decatur and Thornton Creek mixed up. Thanks to all for the correction. end of update   I suspect some who read this post will be irate. Why do this? Because the district seems very hellbent on this effort with no oversight skid marks from the Board.    To clearly state - I do not believe that closing 20 schools is a good idea. I think they hit on 20 because they thought it might bring in the most savings. But the jury is still out on the savings because the district has not shown its work nor its data. I suspect closing schools and THEN leasing/renting them is the big plan but that means the district really has to keep the buildings up.   But this district, with its happy talk about "well-resourced schools" is NOT acknowledging the pain and yes, gr...
Read more

Education News Roundup

From the ever-amusing Washington Policy Center : Vouchers are Pell Grants for students under 18.  Vouchers are no different than Pell Grants or GI benefits, except the money goes to the families of students younger than age 18.  Except they are. Pell Grants were created to help needy students and that's not really the goal of the voucher program.  The Pell grant website does have a couple of great studies on why low-income students drop out before finishing their higher ed and what makes a difference.
Read more