Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
STUDENTS DISCUSS GUN VIOLENCE
DOWNINGTOWN » State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, urged about 50 high school students to vote and lobby their legislators to protect their community and nation against gun violence.
“Schools were always the safest places in the country,” Dinniman told the students assembled at the Chester County Intermediate Unit, Thursday. “You have to have the passion and commitment … and what you are doing today is part of that.
“With ideas and activism put together, there is no stopping the good things that can happen.”
The senator implored the students to demonstrate knowledge, add understanding, and not let the activism end when they graduate.
“Schools need to talk about real problems and issues,” Dinniman said. “A politician wants to get reelected and you can control that.
“The politician who wants to get reelected will listen.”
Dinniman told the students to not just look at violence as gun-related but as elder, domestic and even pet abuse.
“Everything is interrelated,” the senator said. “Violence is glorified in music, TV, movies and video games.”
Dinniman said there has been a degradation of values, and while freedom of speech is vital, and rather than censor, students should “demand”
better.
“Violence is part and parcel of our culture,” he said.
A student asked Dinniman what can be done to better regulate gun sales.
The senator said enforcement should improve, laws need to be clearer and punishment should be maintained.
Dinniman is opposed to most standardized testing and bemoaned the lack of civics classes in today’s schools “to understand the importance of being a citizen.
“Education is about human beings,” he said. “Let a
child be a child.”
Gun violence is a major health problem and Dinniman thinks it should be approached like other more conventional illnesses.
Dinniman has sponsored several bills in Harrisburg.
He wants to see more school resource officers, find was to evaluate every school for safety, and when buildings are built or renovated, plan to make the schools safer.
He also believes in universal background checks, curtailing sales of assault weapons (“You don’t need an AK47 to hunt,” he said) and bump stocks.
The senator suggested better reporting of lost and stolen firearms, was opposed to
arming teachers and advocated for more consistency when dealing with mental health issues and protection from abuse orders.
Many children are traumatized at an early age from flying bullets and family dysfunction, Dinniman said.
“We have to deal with the trauma a student brings to school and understand the role trauma plays,” he said.
Schools represented included, Collegium Charter School, Downingtown East High School, Downingtown West High School, Downingtown STEM Academy, Great Valley High School and Octorara High School, Oxford High School, Phoenixville High School and Avon Grove High School.