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GUN DEBATE Wednesday, February 21, 2018 East Oregonian Page 7A Brown cites Florida shooting in local gun control By ANDREW SELSKY Associated Press AP Photo/Don Ryan, file Oregon Gov. Kate Brown speaks in Portland on Feb. 2. SALEM — Oregon’s governor, backing gun-con- trol legislation on Tuesday before a panel of state sena- tors, said anguished voices in the wake of the school shooting in Florida must be heard. Gov. Kate Brown appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee to support a bill that would expand a ban on the purchase or possession of firearms or ammunition by people convicted of stalking and domestic violence or with restraining orders. Opponents say it would violate Second Amendment protections on the right to bear arms. “Gun violence must end,” said Brown, a Demo- crat. “We hear the anguished voices of families fresh with grief from this latest school shooting, joining with fami- lies from across the nation and here in Oregon who’ve lost loved ones from gun violence. They call on us to take action.” A group of students who survived the Feb. 14 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that claimed 17 lives traveled on Tuesday to Florida’s state capital to pressure lawmakers to pass gun control laws. Brown said that call should resonate across the nation, including Oregon. “We are hearing a call for action from the very high school students who ran for their lives a week ago,” Brown said. The Oregon bill was approved by the state House 37-23 on Feb. 15. Rep. Knute Buehler, who is running for governor in the 2018 elections, was among two Republicans who supported the bill. “I think survivors of domestic violence shouldn’t have to live in fear that their abusers can obtain a firearm,” Buehler said. The bill adds to the list of those who could be barred from ownership after a conviction, add to the list of those who could be barred after a receiving a restraining order, and adds stalking as a qualifying crime. Supporters said the bill would close a loophole in a 2015 law that allows some abusers, such as boyfriends who abuse part- ners they don’t live with, to be excluded. The proposal is now being considered by the Oregon Senate. Survivors, lawmakers on collision course By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, JOSH REPLOGLE and TAMARA LUSH Associated Press PARKLAND, Fla. — Students who survived the Florida school shooting began a journey Tuesday to the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to prevent another massacre, but within hours the gun-friendly Legislature had effectively halted any possibility of banning assault rifles like the one used in the attack. The legislative action further energized the teens as they prepared to confront legislators who have quashed gun-control efforts for decades in a state where 1.3 million people have concealed carry permits. “They’re voting to have shootings continually happen. These people who voted down the bill haven’t experienced what we did. I “No one in the world with the slightest little bit of a soul isn’t moved by this tragedy.” — Rick Wilson, Republican strategist want to say to them, ‘It could be you,’” 16-year-old Noah Kaufman said as he made the 400-mile trip to Tallahassee. Three buses carried 100 students who, in the after- math of the attack that killed 17 people, want to revive the gun-control movement. The teens carried sleeping bags and pillows and hugged their parents as they departed, many wearing burgundy T-shirts in their school colors. They spent the seven-hour ride checking their phones, watching videos and reading comments on social media about the shooting, some of which accused them of being liberal pawns. Meanwhile at the Statehouse, a Democratic representative asked for a procedural move that would have allowed the Repub- lican-controlled House to consider a ban on large-ca- pacity magazines and assault rifles such as the AR-15 that was wielded by the suspect, Nickolas Cruz. The bill had been assigned to three committees but was not scheduled for a hearing. The House quickly nixed the Democratic motion. The vote broke down along party lines, and Republicans criti- cized Democrats for forcing the vote. Because the committees will not meet again before the legislative session ends March 9, the move essen- tially extinguishes hope that lawmakers would vote on any sweeping measures to restrict assault rifles, although other proposals could still be considered. “No one in the world with the slightest little hint of a soul isn’t moved by this tragedy,” Republican strategist Rick Wilson said. “The discussion has to be a longer, bigger and broader discussion.” Lizzie Eaton, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, spent the day lobbying senators of both parties and concluded that lawmakers were “just not listening to us.” The vote was “heart- breaking,” she said. “But we’re not going to stop.” The students planned to hold a rally Wednesday to put more pressure on the Legislature. “I really think they are going to hear us out,” said Chris Grady, a high school senior who was on the bus. The Feb. 14 attack initially appeared to over- come the resistance of some in the state’s political lead- ership, which has rebuffed gun restrictions since Republicans took control of both the governor’s office and the Legislature in 1999. However, many members of the party still have strong resistance to any gun-control measures. Republican leaders in the House and Senate say they will consider raising age restrictions for gun purchases and temporarily revoking someone’s guns if that person is deemed a threat to others. Gov. Rick Scott, also a Republican, convened groups assigned to propose Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School get ready Tuesday to board a bus for a trip to Tallahassee, Fla., to talk with lawmakers about the recent rampage at their school, in Parkland, Fla. Trump urges ban on gun devices like bump stocks AP Photo/Mark Wallheiser Sheryl Acquarola, a 16-year-old junior from Marjo- ry Stoneman Douglas High School is overcome with emotion in the east gallery of the House of Represen- tatives on Tuesday after the representatives voted not to hear the bill banning assault rifles and large capaci- ty magazines at the Florida Capital in Tallahassee, Fla. measures for protecting schools from gun violence. Lawmakers will probably say that getting a new bill passed is nearly impossible with only two and a half weeks left in the legislative session. Some lawmakers who are thinking of running on a statewide ticket are mindful of their sensitive positions, since gun owners make up huge voting blocs in some parts of the state, especially the Panhandle. Wilson said he knows the students “want something to happen,” and they need “a moment to come and make their case.” But, he said, “the thought that you get to wave a wand and change the law is some- thing that is probably going to collide with reality.” The Parkland students also plan to meet Wednesday with top legislative leaders, including Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron. WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has signed a memo directing the Justice Department to propose regulations to “ban all devices” like the rapid-fire bump stocks involved in last year’s Las Vegas massacre. Seeking to show action days after a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Trump spoke during a White House ceremony recognizing bravery by the nation’s public safety officers. “We must move past clichés and tired debates and focus on evidence based solutions and security measures that actually work,” Trump said. The announcement came days after the shooting deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The device Trump referred to was used in the October shooting deaths of 58 people in Las Vegas, and attached to a half- dozen of the long guns found in the shooter’s hotel room. A legislative effort to ban the device fizzled out last year. White House officials say the president will be meeting with students, teachers and state and local officials to discuss ways of providing more school safety and address gun violence. Pressure has been mounting for action after the Parkland shooting. Trump has also indicated he is open to a limited strengthening of federal background checks on gun purchases. Over the weekend, the White House said he had spoken Friday to Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Repub- lican, about a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers. Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders qualified the support, stressing that talks continue and “revisions are being considered,” but said “the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system.” School shooting videos could scar kids — or galvanize them PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) — When two teenagers slaughtered 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School in Colorado 19 years ago, young people across the country learned the news the old-fashioned way: largely on television and in newspapers. It took days, if not weeks, to process the information and discover the full, horrific story. When a gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school last week, youngsters around the globe watched the terrifying images and accounts unfold almost in real time. By the end of the day on Feb. 14, children with social media knew the name of the suspect, learned which classrooms the students were in and, in some cases, saw videos of the dead. “My school is being shot up and I am locked inside. I’m f------ scared right now,” wrote one teen on Twitter. The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High appears to be the first major AP Photo/Brynn Anderson Alana Koer, 41, of Parkland, Fla., shows text messages she received from her son the day of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. school shooting of the social media age in which students shared the shocking images in near-real time with young people elsewhere. Experts say the images have the potential to scar kids watching from afar, potentially triggering post-traumatic stress and perhaps numbing them to the violence and causing them to fall into apathy. But the scenes might also galvanize a generation and lead young people to press for change on the political level. Amy Kohli, a junior at South Broward High School who watched the videos posted from inside Stoneman Douglas, said she believes they helped bring urgency and perspective. “It becomes so personal because you think ‘It could’ve been me,’” the 16-year-old said, standing amid other gun safety demonstrators in front of the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. She added: “It can allow people to see. If they see the blood, they see the real story. What actually happened in reality. Maybe, maybe it’ll help.” Already, young people are demanding action. On Tuesday, 100 Stoneman Douglas students headed for Florida’s capital to urge lawmakers to prevent a repeat of the massacre. Also Tuesday, dozens of students at a high school in Boca Raton walked out of class. On Monday, teens protested at the White House and in Los Angeles, and a student march on Washington to press for tighter gun control is planned for next month. Seventeen-year-old Nicole Burmeister, who attends a high school a 20-minute drive from Stoneman Douglas, said students in a group chat she is on started posting the videos as the news was unfolding. She struggled with whether watching the footage was the right thing to do. “They showed the gunshots one right after the other, and then the kids screaming and everything. That one I could sort of watch, but then the next one they showed a body, some- one’s body on the ground in a puddle of blood,” she said. “It felt wrong to watch that.” Still, she said: “I under- stand people kind of have to take videos like this to shock people. Like really show them how gruesome and how disgusting — the evil that went on this way.” Carina Viera, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, wasn’t in one of the attacked class- rooms but saw a graphic video posted by another student. She and her friends scruti- nized it, wondering if one of the victims was a friend. The person wasn’t. She wondered whether seeing the horror on a phone screen was a good thing overall. “There’s also the danger of letting people get too used to it,” she said. “People also sharing on Snapchat with those captions like with emojis. It makes it seem like, not a joke, but makes it seem a lot less serious than it actually is.” Elisabeth Middleton, an adolescent psychologist in Austin, Texas, who is on the board of the Texas Psycho- logical Association, said there are obvious psycholog- ical downsides to exposing youngsters to this. “It is too much too soon for these kinds of kids. At this age, they’re not prepared to deal with these kinds of events,” she said. “On the other hand, it gives them something to bond around. It’s great that they’re speaking out and trying to hold the political candidates accountable.”
