Opinion: How can we prevent the next school shooting?

Publishers note: Governor Newsom signed SB 1174 into law, which: prohibits local governments from requiring voters to present identification at polling places. California is now one of 14 states that do not require voter ID at polls. source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/elon-musk-compares-newsom-to-the-joker-after-gov-banned-voter-id-requirements-in-california

We, as a nation, did nothing after the April 20, 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado that killed 13 people and wounded an additional 20 others.  We again did nothing after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre of 20 innocent 2^nd graders and 6 adults. 

Since 1999, there have been 167 school shootings that killed 464 students and adults and injured an additional 1,308. These school shootings keep happening because most of our politicians have done nothing to prevent school shootings and we have not voted out these do-nothing politicians. Where are our priorities?

What has our Doug LaMalfa done about school shootings since becoming our congressman in 2013?  Let’s examine his voting record. 

There are positive steps that we can take to prevent school shootings. Studies have shown that requiring background checks on all gun sales can prevent teenagers and prohibited persons from taking advantage of the background check loopholes, which allows people to buy a firearm online or at a gun show with no background check. 

In 2019 and again in 2021, LaMalfa voted against increasing federal firearm background checks from 3 to 10 business days and background checks for all firearms purchases and private transfers. He also voted against reviewing juvenile mental health records for individuals 16 years or older seeking to purchase a firearm and against prohibiting the sale or transfer of semiautomatic firearms to individuals who are under 21 years of age. 

National data shows the vast majority of teenage school shooters acquire guns from their home. Securing firearm storage is an essential ingredient for preventing gun violence in schools. In 2022, LaMalfa voted against regulating the storage of firearms on residential premises at the federal, state, and tribal levels.

Extreme risk laws empower family members, law enforcement, and educators to petition civil courts to temporarily prevent a person from accessing guns. Extreme risk laws allow people in crisis to get the help they need. As of April 2023, only19 states and the District of Columbia have enacted extreme risk laws. These laws are a vital tool for law enforcement in cases where a person who poses a risk to a school has access to firearms. 

In 2022, LaMalfa voted against Senate bill 2938 that would provide funds to implement crisis intervention order programs (red-flag laws) that would allow authorities to confiscate firearms from individuals who have been determined by a court to be a significant danger to themselves or others. These funds would also be used to support mental health courts, drug courts, veteran’s courts, and extreme risk protection orders 

It’s obvious that LaMalfa has done nothing to make our schools safer from gun violence. His voting tells us that he has no problem with the increasing number of school shootings. 

LaMalfa’s voting record tells us that he also believes that school shootings are a fact of life and we just have to deal with it.  Do the 10,714 Siskiyou County voters who voted for LaMalfa in the 2022 election also believe that school shootings are a fact of life and we just have to deal with it?       

What are LaMalfa’s safety priorities? In his July 2024 Newsletter, he told us that he voted for H.Res. 1367, that would establish a task force to investigate the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.  He tells us that “We owe it to the public and to all future elected officials to guarantee their safety through rigorous, transparent, and accountable security measures.”

So, LaMalfa’s priority is to protect politicians and not our school children. He thinks politicians are more important than our children. His real priority is to stay in the good graces of the NRA. LaMalfa is proud that he gets an “A” rating from the NRA. 

Our highest priority should be protecting our children from school shootings. Think about that before you vote this November.

Tom Laurent
Sept 30, 2024