Seattle Schools Community Forum

2013.  Let's make this the year when gun control matters.   Enough of these (seemingly) endless mass shootings.  Folks, we can agree to disagree on what the Second Amendment means.  (I personally believe our Founding Fathers meant a militia of many and not of one but that's not how the Supreme Court ruled.) Let me be clear.  Yes, it's is about who has the gun, not the gun.  But way too many guns means access to those guns by people who should not have access. It's about common sense.  It's also about saying if you own a gun, you WILL be held responsible for what happens to that gun (unless it is stolen.  FYI, only gun store owners have to report a missing or lost gun.  That should change as well.)  If gun owners know that they will be accountable, they will be more likely to secure their weapons. No one needs a military-style assault weapon but the military.     No one needs to get be able to buy a gun without a ...

I heard about this story early this morning before there are many details.  I had assumed it was not serious. A man with a gun has shot and killed 27 people, 18 of them children, at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn.  Allegedly, the killer went after his mother, a teacher, and then killed 18 students in her classroom.  He also shot seven other adults. From the NY Times: A photograph published by a local newspaper, The Newtown Bee , showed a line of children being escorted out of the school with some of the children crying.  This is BULLSHIT. Folks, what kind of country do we live in that we are accepting of this kind of thing, month after month, year after year?  What is is going to take until citizens - across the country, across political lines - say NO MORE? I am fine with people owning guns but they should have to be licensed like a driver's license. I am fine with people owning guns but they MUST be held responsible for what happens (eve...

In "news to me", from The Stranger Slog , apparently there are a number of medical marijuana dispensaries around school zones.  The DEA has warned 23 of them that they have to move or ..federal authorizes may raid the properties, seize their assets, and seek federal criminal charges , Agent Barnes adds that the federal government makes no criminal exceptions for marijuana, even it it's " medical ," a word that his letter writes in italics and quotation marks.  This would apply to the business as well as the property owner.  I'll try to find out where these are but I'm sure it's probably something parents have noticed if one is near a school zone. I applaud the DEA for this because public safety around schools is a city/county/state/fed responsibility and if we had more of it, more of our schools would feel safer.