Gun Violence Prevention
U.S. House of Representatives member and University of Oregon alumna Suzanne Bonamici, D-OR 1st District, met with eight professors and researchers in the College of Education last Friday afternoon for a roundtable discussion.
The discussion focused on research being done by UO faculty to improve safety in high schools. The research, which is in part funded by a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Education, encompasses a variety of different proposals for improving the safety and wellbeing of high school students.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said today that he has joined his senate colleagues in introducing legislation that would ensure gun dealers are not engaging in illegal sales and provide the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) with clear enforcement mechanisms.
"Gun violence deserves more than just thoughts and prayers, it demands real action by Congress," Wyden said. "This legislation takes a long-overdue critical step in the right direction, holding gun dealers accountable for illegal sales, reducing the number of guns that fall into the wrong hands."
School districts across the United States are desperately looking for ways to keep students safe after school shootings that have left millions of students, teachers and other staff afraid they could be next.
In Schuylkill County, Pa., classrooms in the Blue Mountain School Districthave five-gallon buckets of river stone that students can throw if a gunman comes through the door.
WASHINGTON, DC [05/22/18] – Today Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, a leader on the House Education Committee, questioned Education Secretary Betsy DeVos during the Secretary's first appearance in front of the Committee, 16 months after taking office.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Tuesday that urgent action is needed to keep students safe following last week's school shooting in Texas — but added that local and state governments bear the brunt of responsibility for campus safety.
"We must ensure our children are safe at school. This administration is committed to keeping our nation's students and teachers safe at school," DeVos told the House Education Committee.
Confronting a nationwide epidemic of school violence and decades of inaction from lawmakers, the Vernon Elementary School choir made a prediction — or maybe a promise.
"The times they are a-changin," they sang.
Facing the stage in Pioneer Courthouse Square, the crowd of thousands raised their hands in the v-shaped peace sign, their heads bobbing along to the old Bob Dylan tune.
"The students here are going to take over the world," said retiree Colin Persichetti of Southwest Portland. "I'm looking to them to get this country out of the hole it's in."
Guns and safety headlined a town hall Thursday with U.S. Rep Suzanne Bonamici at Astoria High School.
A small crowd turned out for the discussion, the congresswoman's sixth this month during a spring tour of her district in Northwest Oregon. She started out thanking Astoria sophomores Isabel Talley and Kegan Rascoe, who handed her a stack of 78 signed form letters from students and staff calling for more federal funding to improve school safety.
SEATTLE (AP) — High school students on Saturday led thousands of protesters in Seattle and other Northwest cities demanding tighter gun regulations following recent deadly school shootings.
Students in Seattle held signs that read "Not One More" and chanted "Right now, Right here, we refuse to live in fear." Teachers protested President Donald Trump's proposal to arm some of them to protect students from potential attackers.
Thousands of marchers filled the North Park Blocks of downtown Portland Saturday, March 24, before surging down Broadway and into Pioneer Courthouse Square, to protest violence in schools and a lack of action by lawmakers.