I sat in the Head Start classroom reviewing policies and
procedures and came across the program’s guidelines about what to do in the
case of a drive-by-shooting. I gulped as I read the instructions to teachers to
grab the orange whistle hanging by the door and to blow it to signal to the
children to huddle together in the middle of the room, away from windows and
doors.
I had come to this program in Los Angeles having left
Stehekin, my tiny community in Washington’s North Cascades, to be part of the
team conducting a review of how well the program met Federal Head Start
standards. I knew I was in
unfamiliar territory the minute I got in the rental car and weaved in and out
of traffic on the multi-lane freeway; in Stehekin, the maximum speed on the
valley’s single paved road was 25 mph.
But learning that teachers here had developed the drive-by shooting
procedures after shots had been fired in the neighborhood, I felt I had
traveled to another planet.
That was nearly twenty years ago, four years before names like
Columbine and later, Virginia Tech and Sandy Hook, began to call up images of
terrified students and teachers threatened by people wielding guns in their
classrooms, hallways, and on their campuses. Now, on the rural island where I work as a school nurse, a
red sheet of lock-down procedures is posted on my office wall, and the
administration periodically conducts drills to prepare students and staff for
the possibility of an armed intruder.
I think of those places every time I hear about another
school shooting, like the one just this week at Sparks Middle School in Reno.
Those memories and images also came to mind last month when Steven Aldrich, a
lobbyist for Friends Committee on Washington Public Policy (FCWPP), gave his report at our annual fall
Quaker gathering (see 4-30-13
post about Quarterly Meeting gatherings). Steve started his report this way:
“If I were a convicted felon, here in Washington I could buy
a gun online or at a gun show without having my background checked.”
He reassured us that he isn’t a convicted felon, nor does he
own a gun, but he made his point about a flaw in our state’s firearms sales
regulations. Steve held up a stack
of petitions for signatures supporting Initiative-594, a measure to change the
law. I took a handful.
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| WA Alliance for Gun Responsibility |
Support for the initiative is being organized by the Washington Alliance for Gun
Responsibility. As of this week, the alliance needed just 10,000 more
signatures to reach the 325,000 required to get the initiative before the State
legislature. If that happens and
the legislature passes the initiative, it becomes law. If they don’t, it will go on the ballot
for the November 2014 election.
Here’s what I-594 addresses (full text is at Initiative Measure 594). Current law requires criminal and
public safety background checks before purchasing a firearm from a licensed
dealer; the initiative would change the law to extend this requirement for
checks to most firearm purchases and transfers in Washington, including gun
show and online sales. According to the Alliance, an estimated 40% of gun
transfers in the U.S. take place without going through a licensed dealer. In
2012, 6.6 million guns were sold with no background check for the buyer.
 |
| I-594 supporters with petitions |
I’m putting my signed petition in the mail today, and I hope that readers in Washington who
haven’t yet signed will go to the website to find out how to add their names to
the list. Even if this initiative passes, I know it won’t put an end to all gun
violence. But perhaps it will decrease
the chance that those drive-by-shooting and lockdown procedures in schools and
Head Start programs will ever be needed.
