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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Crater Lake winter road closures start Sunday ... House GOP votes to make Paul Ryan next speaker ... Guest Opinion: Make LNG project worth our while ... Crater Lake winter road closures start Sunday ... House GOP votes to make Paul Ryan next speaker ... Guest Opinion: Make LNG project worth our while ... TEACHER'S TIPS A few things parents should know about school shootings Comment By Paul Huard DailyTidings.com By Paul Huard Posted Oct. 26, 2015 at 8:27 PM By Paul Huard Posted Oct. 26, 2015 at 8:27 PM » Social News The shooting at Umpqua Community College on Oct. 1 terrified and grieved us all. Many of us still feel fear because the violence was so close to home, leaving students, teachers, parents, and administrators in schools everywhere on edge. We are grieved — I am grieved — because it is so easy put ourselves in the place of the families who lost loved ones. What can you say to your children? What can you do to help keep your children safe? I have a few suggestions. It’s hardly an exhaustive list — but I believe the advice is worth noting. I’ve worked diligently to gather the following information from the best sources I know. I will be the first to admit my conclusions will not please everyone — but these are the best suggestions I can muster based on my experience: • Help your child understand that schools are some of the safest places in the United States. School shootings are horrible events — and they are also statistically very rare if you are referring to an active shooter coming on to a campus in order to commit mass murder. According to FBI crime statistics, the majority of homicides in the United States including most multi-victim homicides occur in homes, not schools. In this nation, the most likely place for a mass shooting to occur is a restaurant, according to the same statistics. In the Washington Post article “Gun violence and mass shootings — myths, facts and solutions,” Dewey G. Cornell, a forensic clinical psychologist at the University of Virginia, points out that children are almost 100 times more likely to be murdered outside of school than at school. Have mass shootings increased recently? Looking at FBI statistics from December 2000 to 2013 (the period of time examined by law enforcement officials in an effort to answer the question), 1,043 people in the United States were killed or wounded by “active shooters” attempting to kill people “in a confined and populated area.” There were on average 16.4 such shootings a year from 2007 to 2013, compared with an average of 6.4 shootings annually from 2000 to 2006. About 45 percent of the shootings occurred in offices or stores, and about 25 percent at schools or universities. The remainder occurred in a variety of settings. However, compared to overall national homicide statistics where the cause of death was by firearms, mass murders on campus remain a spectacular exception. • Teach your child to report things that just don’t seem right, including comments by fellow students who say they will perform violent acts. One of the most disturbing constants discovered in the aftermath of school shootings is the perpetrators often told classmates what they intended to do. Shooters often bragged about their intentions, posted hints about their plans on social media, or even asked others to participate in acts of violence. It takes courage for a student to go a teacher or administrator and report suspicious activity. Help your child understand that in the Ashland Public Schools he or she will not face retaliation. Help him or her understand that the trusted adult in the school system will take them seriously. Finally, help your child understand that their courage might save lives as well as provide help to a very troubled young person on the verge of making a horrible decision. • If your child is suffering from severe mental health issues, do not allow him or her to have access to a firearm. Some will say I just stated the obvious. Others will claim I am trampling on their Second Amendment rights. All I have is history. Kip Kinkel, the perpetrator of the 1998 Thurston High School shooting in Springfield, received a Glock 9mm handgun as a gift from his father when he was 15 — despite the fact the boy was already showing indications of serious mental illness. (By the way, in the state of Oregon it is illegal for a minor to possess a handgun permanently. Unless the child is under the jurisdiction of a juvenile court or found mentally ill, a minor can possess one temporarily for the purpose of activities such as target shooting.) The mother of Sandy Hook School shooter Adam Lanza allowed her son regular access to firearms even though he displayed a fascination with mass shootings and signs that he had schizophrenia. The basics of gun safety include the rule that a gun owner should always keep firearms secure. I urge parents to extend that principle to how they use their judgment. If your child is in mental crisis, access to a firearm is simply not a good idea. Frankly, I do not believe further gun regulation will reduce mass shootings, no matter where they occur. An August 2013 Centers for Disease Control report looked at rates for gun homicides in the 50 most-populous U.S. metropolitan areas. According to FactCheck.org , the report concluded that there was no clear or convincing evidence in the statistics that showed whether additional gun laws lead to more or less gun crime. My instincts tell me the solution — if any — generally will be found in the type of communities we build. That means that schools, families, mental health professionals and law enforcement will work together so we can intervene in the lives of the deeply troubled people prone to commit that type of killing before they pull the trigger. Nothing less than the lives of our children are at stake. A former reporter who covered politics and government for newspapers in California and Oregon, Paul R. Huard teaches social studies and English courses at Ashland High School. The opinions he expresses are his own. By Paul Huard DailyTidings.com By Paul Huard Posted Oct. 26, 2015 at 8:27 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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