Bonamici, students talk gun violence

talia Rentsch never used to be fearful or going to school.

Now, the McMinnville High School student told U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici Monday, she lives with a heightened sense of fear.

"The fire alarm went off once recently, and my gut dropped," she told Bonamici, who represents McMinnville in Oregon's First Congressional District. "I said, ‘I am not going outside.'"

Then, late last month, students learned about a note found in a restroom of a local grocery story that read: "March 1. R.I.P." March 1 happened to be the date for an assembly for the school's Unity Week.

"We were all in the auditorium, so it was a sitting-duck situation," Rentsch told Bonamici. Roughly half the student body stayed home that day.

Bonamici met with a handful of students before her scheduled town hall meeting at Chemeketa Community College's McMinnville campus to hear opinions about how to curb gun violence in the nation's schools.

There is a slim chance for bipartisan support for tighter gun laws, she told the students, but even what she termed "common-sense" measures have met with opposition in the Republican-controlled Congress.

"We don't even get a chance to vote on these measures," she said.

Most of the students in the room favored stricter gun laws. They also supported increased mental health services. However, they opposed arming teachers.

"They'd just be another sitting duck going out into the hall to get shot," said student Scout Whitaker.

Bonamici agreed, saying a teacher with a drawn weapon would be a primary target for police responding to reports of a shooter. "They don't know if the teacher is a good or a bad guy," she said. "It just puts everyone at more risk."

A teacher who is also a reserve police officer trained in firearms accidentally fired a gun Tuesday at Seaside High School in Monterey County, California, during a class devoted to public safety. Bullet fragments mildly injured one of his students in the neck.

The incident happened a day after the town hall where student Amanda Paz said she worried about just such mishaps. "I don't trust my teachers with guns," she said.

In response to students advocating for tougher background checks, Bonamici said Oregon already has strong laws that require such checks. Until laws are nationwide, however, she said people can just cross state lines to avoid them.

Tristan Ferry said he approves of the idea of increased mental health services, but stressed the importance of early intervention.

"By the time you get to the age of the school shooters, it's too far," he said. "These people, they don't think they have a problem. We should really start young."

Annie Clayton told Bonamici the first step toward any solution is curbing access to firearms.

"An AR-15 is not practical for defending yourself. It's only meant for hurting other people, and you can buy them in a Five Guys' parking lot," she said.

Bonamici concluded by saying she supported students walking out of class this week to protest gun violence.

"You're exercising your First Amendment rights," said Bonamici, who participated in a sit-in among members of Congress over gun violence last summer. "It's a lesson for you."