Get Tough On Possession Of Restricted Weapons

Schools can't stop gun violence
By Lorrie Goldstein

Our schools are a reflection of society. If there is deadly, random gun violence on our streets, then inevitably it will make its way into our schools.

It's a tragedy that 15-year-old Jordan Manners, a Grade 9 student at C.W. Jefferys Collegiate, was shot to death inside his school Wednesday.

But it's not surprising. Not when people have been gunned down as they leave school, wait in line to buy a sandwich, ride the TTC or shop downtown.

In that sense, C.W. Jefferys is simply the location of the latest outrage.

Indeed, by all accounts, it has been a relatively safe haven in a high-crime community.

We cannot stop violence in schools by turning them into armed camps. We will only stop the violence in them, when we stop the violence on the streets that surround them.

Even if we equip every school with metal detectors and round-the-clock security, what will it do to stem the violence awaiting our children as soon as they walk out the doors?

As terrible as Wednesday's events were, several things went right. School staff had trained students in lockdown procedures, which helped to keep them safe.

The police did their job by entering the school immediately upon learning of the shooting and keeping everyone inside under guard, and thus safe, while they searched for the killer.

While this was stressful to students and their parents who had to wait hours to be reunited, it was necessary, given the need of the police to be sure that in emptying the school, they weren't freeing the murderer.

There's no way to guarantee a tragedy like this one won't happen again.

But Toronto has had success recently in curbing gun violence by hiring more officers and through Chief Bill Blair's focus on dismantling gangs by gathering reliable intelligence about them from the community.

This must continue. We disagree with Premier Dalton McGuinty and Mayor David Miller's latest call to "ban" handguns following this tragedy -- but we accept that all people of good will are trying to come up with solutions.

We must keep trying. We must never give up.