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Jeanne’s letter regarding the school shooting

In a small school with a district that had funded a school police force, state of the art monitoring, and all the bells and whistles to keep their children safe, an 18 year-old young man walked in and shot and killed 19 beautiful children and two dedicated teachers. Why, we may never know. We are seeking a reason for the unreasonable.

Now people want to know who is to blame: the teacher who didn’t lock a door, the police who didn’t storm the room, parents who are thinking If only I had.... None of those is the answer, nor should they be. Why should teachers have to lock their doors? Why should police even be in schools, when it has been shown that it doesn’t help stop a shooting and some research actually shows it is more likely for a shooting to happen in schools with police? Police change the dynamic of a school and increase the number of kids who end up in the school-to-prison pipeline. Our Policing Practices Study has researched this and there is no good evidence that having police in schools decreases violence, let alone shootings. Yes, if there is violence in schools that needs police help, schools can certainly call the police for help. That has always been the case. But to have them there, armed, has a negative effect on the learning experience.

Yet you can bet that some people will follow their “gut feelings” and demand for the police to protect their children and we will pay whatever the cost. But will that do it? Will we need to have police at our grocery stores, Walmarts, convenience stores, churches, synagogues, and movie theaters? If we think more armed guards will do it, then we will need to become a police state with our every movement watched. I hope none of us wants that.

So what is the alternative? We know what works. Studies have shown how to address this problem: More mental health practitioners and restorative justice counselors in schools; more anti-bullying training. Common sense gun laws that don’t allow people to purchase a gun without a background check and a two-week cooling-off period. Red-flag laws that allow judges to order the removal of guns from people who have displayed dangerous behavior. We have some very good gun laws here in California, but without federal laws, these weapons are too easy to bring across our state lines. No automatic weapons should be in our homes or on our streets. That isn’t what the founding fathers wanted for us to protect our homes when they wrote the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Every day we wait, there is the probability of another shooting. We hear about the mass shootings but there are thousands killed every day that we don’t hear of. No other first world country accepts this violence to its people. Our children are crying out for us to protect them. It is time for our Congress and Senate to stand up and vote to make the changes required, once and for all.

Yours in League,
Jeanne Brown
Chair, Criminal Justice Committee

Does San Diego have any Red Flag Laws?

The answer is yes, they’re called “Gun Violence Restraining Orders” or GVROs. A few years ago, our League had Mara Elliot, our City Attorney, come share this new law with us. And if you don’t live in the City of San Diego, now California has its own GVRO called AB 61. You can read more about it.

Recent events remind us how important common sense gun laws can be. California has a number of them; if only other states would follow suit.

Our City Attorney wrote ours and has been going all over the state, sharing it so others do not have to “re-invent the wheel.” Ms. Elliott established a special GVRO team in 2017 that has trained other communities throughout the state on how to use GVROs as a tool to save lives.

From the city’s website : A GVRO is a civil restraining order that removes firearms from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others. Following a hearing in open court, a judge can prohibit the individual from possessing or purchasing firearms or ammunition for at least one year. The California law that empowers law enforcement to obtain GVROs was prompted by the 2014 mass shooting in Isla Vista, near the University of California at Santa Barbara. An alumna of UCSB, and a mother who vividly remembers the Sandy Hook massacre because her boys were of similar ages to the young children who died there, Elliott was compelled to act in her role as City Attorney to prevent such tragedies in San Diego.

In fact, just last year, more than 37% of all gun-violence restraining orders issued throughout the entire state of California were issued in San Diego County, totaling 483 orders out of 1285 statewide. If the person whose guns are removed proves him/herself safe to the court after a year, they may get their guns back.

On a recent visit to San Diego, the California Attorney General got a first-hand look at the success of San Diego's gun violence prevention efforts, including some of the 1,011 firearms seized through Red Flag laws. He said, "San Diego is really the epicenter of gun-violence restraining orders working. Red flag laws work to keep people safe.”

If you know of someone who poses a risk of violence and has access to a firearm, please report the dangerous conduct to police and inquire about obtaining a Gun Violence Restraining Order. More information is available on the City Attorney’s website.