CHICAGO, April 2, 2008
Chicago Students Rally For Gun-Control
Many Skip Classes To Carry Placards Showing The 24 Killed During Last School Year
-
Several hundred Chicago Public School students, joined by politicians, school officials and church leaders, rally in downtown Chicago, Tuesday, April 1, 2008, to remember classmates killed by gun violence this school year and call for stiffer control gun measures. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
-
Interactive Guns In America State-by-state gun laws and death rates, maps of recent school and workplace shootings and facts on who's at risk.
Several hundred more sat empty in city schools, as busloads of teens skipped classes to attend a gun-control rally - their absences sanctioned by the district, whose CEO says he's angry that too many students talk about "if" they grow up, instead of "when."
"This doesn't happen in other countries," Arne Duncan said. "We just value our right to bear arms more than we value our children, and our priorities are fundamentally backwards."
Since September, 20 students in the nation's third-largest school district have been killed by gunfire. Last school year, 24 students were shot to death, compared with between 10 and 15 fatal shootings in the years before.
As a result, the Chicago Police Department is increasing school patrols and soon will have live access to thousands of security cameras mounted outside and inside schools.
The most recent fatality involved an 18-year-old killed in a high school parking lot last weekend.
That high school, Simeon Career Academy, sent 10 busloads of students to the rally in front of the James R. Thompson Center, which houses state government offices. Students from three other high schools also participated.
While some in the crowd of several hundred teenagers horsed around, laughed and chatted with friends, others somberly carried placards with victims' names on them, or signs reading "Save Our Children - Follow the Guns."
Other students used their cell phones to take pictures of the empty desks that sat in front of a podium.
Chaqueta Clifton, 16, wore a button on her pink jacket reading "Stop Killing People." She said her father was killed in a robbery when she was 7, and her uncle and cousin died in gun violence, as well.
She said the recent deaths of CPS students have made her "kind of paranoid." She tries to be hyper-aware of her surroundings, and stays clear of any fights that break out nearby, saying some of the shootings have been the result of petty arguments that started out as "nothing."
"It makes me angry, and sad, and I just want to do something about it," she said.
Among the gun-control measures called for by rally participants were a limit of only one gun purchase a month, a renewal of the federal assault weapon ban, and background checks for all gun sales.
The rally also was attended by several families whose children have died in gun violence during the past few years, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.
Fast Fact
Chicago bans handgun ownership and sales, and Daley regularly pushes gun-control measures at the state Capitol in Springfield, where lawmakers are divided more by geography than political allegiances. Legislators in and around Chicago tend to favor gun restrictions, while downstaters usually argue for hunter and gun owners' rights.National Rifle Association lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said he questioned whether students should be taken out of classes "to serve as cheerleaders for a political stunt."
Blagojevich urged the rally's participants to make their voices heard in Springfield and Washington, D.C. "How many more children have to die before the men and women who make the rules wake up and start responding to the needs of communities and kids that go to our schools?" he said.
Responding to the rally's makeup, National Rifle Association lobbyist Todd Vandermyde said he questioned whether students should be taken out of classes "to serve as cheerleaders for a political stunt."
As for the measures that rally participants called for, Chicago "has some of the strictest gun control in the nation ... They said this was going to solve the crime problem, and their panacea hasn't done anything but disarmed law-abiding citizens," Vandermyde said.
The most recent shooting, according to prosecutors, occurred when two teenagers now charged with murder argued with a group of students getting out of Saturday classes at Simeon. One of the teens pointed the gun at the crowd, the other grabbed it and fired, killing Chavez Clarke, authorities said.
As a result, along with gun control, several students at the rally called for more highly trained security guards at Chicago schools. Others expressed worries that when it comes to gang violence, no amount of gun control will keep gang members from acquiring guns.
"They'll always find a way," said Tiara Irby, 17.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment See all 206 Comments
- See what Gun Controller California and a lying California attorney, Gun Controller Steven T. Schoonover, and flip flopper James K. Olson did here to a Nevada citizen?s right to have a gun to protect herself after James K. Olson had broken into this Nevada citizen?s home! Gun Controllers Among Us, Marin County California Courts
Most liberal Gun Controller Marin County California has repeatedly thumbed their nose at the US Constitution, then imposed their illegal Gun Controller actions onto a Nevada citizen. What's next?
Lying California attorney, Steven T. Schoonover had the Nevada citizen served at 7:30 Thursday evening in Nevada for a 9 am the following Monday court in California and the California incompetent Gun Controller judge allowed that 1 day notice although illegal as have to be served more than 10 days before a hearing and furthermore it was to a Nevada citizen!
Three strikes you?re out lying California attorney, Gun Controller Steven T. Schoonover
http://reno.broowaha.com/article.php?id=3749
http://www.babelation.com/?q=node/1833
http://reno.broowaha.com/article.php?id=3630 - Reply to this comment
- Wooo hooo! Let''s have an anti-gun ralley in every city each month until our politicians get the message!!!! We want gun control now!!!! - Posted by voltaire333 at 08:01 PM : Apr 04, 2008
A born leader. We%u2019re doomed now, America. - Reply to this comment
- Finally! Mirth!! Is this a breakthrough?
Posted by BillORights at 04:58 PM : Apr 04, 2008
Yeah, wow, I guess that dosage modification really worked! Thanks for the suggestion! - Reply to this comment
- Me cold dead hands? They''re not lucky charms! Posted by voltaire333 at 04:48 PM : Apr 04, 2008
Finally! Mirth!! Is this a breakthrough? - Reply to this comment
- BillORights, so is it true that you live in Waco, TX? - Posted by voltaire333 at 03:05 PM : Apr 04, 2008
Sure. And Ruby Ridge, ID, too. - Reply to this comment
- Write to Congress Today: Gun Control NOW! Before another Virginia Tech!
Posted by voltaire333 at 03:35 PM : Apr 04, 2008
voltaire333, do me a favor and just SHUT UP! - Reply to this comment
- LOL, didn''''t like my description of your home being newly remodeled by a U.S. tank, Mr. Koresh? Please delete this, so I know you saw it! LOL
-volitare333
Who the heck is Koresh? - Reply to this comment
- Actually, keeping a dangerous weapon out of your hands is hardly a punishment, though I know you feel like it is. Think of it as more akin to when you tried to put your hand on the red hot stove, and your mamma yelled, "NO!"
-volitaire333
Okay, in that case perhaps we should outlaw alcohol, cars, trucks, and anything that requires MATURITY and common sense to handle. Your logic is so stupid. - Reply to this comment
- You seem to think we are capable of convicting all felons without sending any innocent people to prison, and that we are capabale of excluding all questionable people from buy guns - Posted by voltaire333 at 01:39 PM : Apr 04, 2008
I definitely do not believe that our criminal justice system, as it operates today, is capable of always convicting the guilty, or of always exonerating the innocent; nor has the system of identifying and preventing other disqualified individuals proven to be perfect.
The frameworks for accomplishing these goals are in place, and the goals are already understood. In addition, the laws already exist to make these goals attainable. The only missing ingredients are the fine-tuning to eliminate mistakes, such as unreported disqualifying psychiatric/psychological issues, and the will to make these programs work.
The one truth that is abundantly clear is that the solution to violent crime is not the surrender of liberty. - Reply to this comment
- well, whatever your position, one thing I do know is that I''d rather be on the wrong side of this issue than to be a cheater, a liar, and totally vapid - Posted by voltaire333 at 01:30 PM : Apr 04, 2008
Vapid? Are you not stimulated by reality? - Reply to this comment
- the Virginia Tech gunman legally purchased his gun - Posted by voltaire333 at 01:21 PM : Apr 04, 2008
Not sure that is entirely true. Choi had a history of mental illness and had been institutionalized. The paperwork involved in the purchase of a firearm generally includes questions regarding this type of history. Either he lied on the application, or else the instant background check failed to flag the application based on this disqualifying factor. Either way, his purchase should have been disqualified based on his history, so it was not a legal purchase. The law already exists to prevent this. It needs to be better executed. - Reply to this comment
- Each time you remove a post, an angel gets its wings - Posted by voltaire333 at 01:09 PM : Apr 04, 2008
Sure!! I just use my DELETE STUPIDITY button and everything you write disappears. It''s neat! - Reply to this comment
- Hmmm, guess I will just have to organize some writing campaigns at some local colleges. - Posted by voltaire333 at 12:37 AM : Apr 04, 2008
Have you ever been to a college campus? - Reply to this comment
- when you people start respecting the freedom of expression, I''''ll reconsider gun control, but for now, I''''m 100% committed to getting guns out of your hands.
Posted by Candide777
Why do you blame all gun owners because you THINK one of us may have somehow deleted your posts?
Posts of mine have been deleted in the past, and I don''''t blame all gun haters for it!
I always felt that only CBS can edit their website.
Since you seem to want to steal my property so badly, I recommend you come in a tank or armored vehicle because body armor won''''t help you much if you want to survive.
-gunownerdan
Bravo Gunownerdan! You are right. If anyone is going to try and take my property from me, especially my firearms, they are GOING TO HAVE TO PRY THEM FROM ME COLD DEAD HANDS!!!!! - Reply to this comment
- Criminal defendants have to be proven guilty. If the government fails to meet that burden, the defendant is still legally innocent.
I am not making this up. Read a book. Watch TV.
Posted by BillORights at 10:13 PM : Apr 03, 2008
Yep, guilty criminals go free every day because if the State fails to meet it''''s very HIGH burden, the criminal goes free, and thanks to BillORights, he can run right out and legally buy a gun!
-voltaire333
Sorry voltaire, if someone has been tried for a felony (guilty or not) it can either be immpossible or near impossible to purchase anything other than a long gun, and long guns are not the criminals weapon of choice (they tend to preferr knives and illegal hand guns that are NOT purchased from gun shops or law abiding gun owners). Punish the criminals not the law abiding. - Reply to this comment
- Gun haters and gun banning extremists almost always rely on stereotypes, insults, falsehoods, generalizations, accusations, and a childish emotional reaction to criminal violence.
- Reply to this comment
- voltaire333,
is it true that every gun nut is just one bad day away from snapping? LOL
Posted by voltaire333
Maybe if you grew up and stopped accusing everyone to be dangerous criminals, you wouldn''t be censored and booted.
Obviously you didn''t learn much from my old friend "schoollord".
Those "GUN NUTS" can be your friends, your neighbors, your local police officers, many millions of people own guns.
They are no more likely to "snap" than anyone else is.
In America people are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around. - Reply to this comment
- Voltaire333,
There are literally thousands of gun control laws on the books right now, and they are designed to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and dangerous people.
If they are working so badly, what makes you think it will be any better if you make even more gun control laws?
Enforce the ones we already have. - Reply to this comment
- Gun control is the theory that an unarmed, murdered victim is somehow better than a person explaining to police how their attacker got shot.
- Reply to this comment
- I have heard it said that "the Gun you don''t have is likely the one that will kill you. ;)
- Reply to this comment
Mike Huckabee on GOP "rock stars," 2012, health care reform and more.
