Where kids lead, adults can follow
If the teenagers of the United States are showing adults the way with disciplined, nonviolent protest these days, the grown-ups in Santa Fe — unlike some other parts of the country — are walking alongside the youngsters. That’s commendable.
In Santa Fe last week, when hundreds of students in schools across the community took part in a nationwide walkout, there were no threats of expulsion. No principals locked the doors to keep the students inside the school, and no school board members tried to dissuade the students.
An estimated 1 million students across the nation took 17 minutes from the school day to remember the 17 people — 14 students and three adults — killed in a Florida high school on Feb. 14. The horrific massacre has sparked a movement of young people who are determined to stop gun violence and to make their schools safer. On March 14, they walked out. On March 24, they plan a march in Washington, D.C., and on April 20, there will be additional commemorations on the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. They are not stopping.
Locally, academic leaders from the Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education to Superintendent Veronica García to school principals and individual teachers are backing the students. It’s the right thing to do and contrasts to other districts, both in New Mexico and across the country, that sought to punish protesters.
Across the community last week — in public, private, religious and charter schools — students mourned those who died at Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School in Parkland, Fla. They feel the necessity of speaking up for safety and against the prevalence of gun violence in our society. In Santa Fe, our leaders are setting the right example for these young people.
There is much more to do, of course. Protest is but one step to bringing about change. It is potent — witness the marches of the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the dissent against the war that led to the end of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Protests helped bring about the vote for women and, going back to the Boston Tea Party, could be said to be an essential part of the American character.
From protest comes action. Students want to change laws that regulate guns in the United States. Through the efforts of young activists change is happening — the enactment of sensible laws opposed by the National Rifle Association, a group unused to losing.
In Florida, the Legislature raised the age at which a person can purchase a semiautomatic weapon from 18 to 21; banned bump stocks (a device that makes semiautomatic weapons fire more rapidly); established a waiting period for the purchase of most guns so that a background check can be completed; and provided additional funds for school security and mental health services. It’s a beginning, but more work needs to be done on the national level, both to change laws but also to change attitudes.
Even without new laws, more gun owners could store their weapons correctly — in a gun safe, locked and with ammunition put away separately. Innocent people would be less at risk. Fewer people would die.
If more people who purchased guns actually learned how to use them, practicing shooting diligently and never playing around with guns, innocent people would be safer. (Even experts can make mistakes, after all. Last week, an armed teacher — the subject was gun safety — accidentally shot his firearm into the roof, which caused debris or a bullet fragment to fall and injure a student. This incident shows once more why arming teachers or school staff will not make students safer.)
In Santa Fe, leaders are still wrestling with how best to secure our schools. They are considering a partnership with the city to have armed officers, at least at the high school level, as one solution (although we have not heard much from the city yet). They are discussing whether the board should take a vote against suggestions that teachers or other staffers should be armed (Albuquerque’s board did, and we think it’s worthwhile). They are discussing improvements to building security, a smart step.
They also are discussing what to do about NRA grants that go to fund various school programs; an AP analysis showed the NRA has spent some $7.3 million funding activities at schools from 2010-16.
At Santa Fe High School, there’s a $4,000 annual grant at stake, which helps support the school’s championship Naval JROTC program. We say let the NRA spend its money elsewhere, but don’t let the program suffer. A fund — whether at Partners in Education or the Santa Fe Community Foundation — should be set up so that the community can make up losses. This is a successful, award-winning activity that students enjoy.
And students, after all, remain the motivation behind this burgeoning movement. They are showing jaded adults, tired after years of losing battles against the NRA and its bought-and-paid-for lawmakers, that change remains possible. It will not happen quickly or easily. But the tide of gun violence can turn — and the young people of America are showing the way. In Santa Fe, the adults will be right there with them.