Friday, February 15, 2013
Access to guns, mental health covered in Virginia rep's report by the National Science Foundation — topics he says need to stay part of the conversation.
Days after President Barack Obama used his State of the Union address to call on Congress and the country to act on gun control, U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th) has released a report that examines driving forces behind mass shootings, including violent media and mental health issues — topics absent from the president's address, Wolf said. The 41-page report, “Youth Violence: What We Need to Know,” includes several studies compiled by an advisory committee to the National Science Foundation (NSF). It will come before a U.S. House subcommittee later this spring. Among the study's findings: exposure to violent media is a significant risk factor in shootings, but also "one of the easiest risk factors to change,” the report says. Its suggestions…
Friday, January 11, 2013
Members tasked with reviewing, making recommendations about safety in Virginia schools.
Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman was named Wednesday to a state task force designed to review school safety procedures and make recommendations for any improvements at Virginia's schools, a group created in the wake of the December shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. Shortly after the shootings, which left 26 students and educators dead, Gov. Bob McDonnell issued Executive Order 56 establishing a multidisciplinary task force to review school and campus safety. In addition to Chapman, several state legislators, law enforcement officials and mental health and safety experts, the task force also includes k through 12 and university-level educators and administrators, two students and the father of a victim in the 2007 …
Monday, December 17, 2012
In wake of Newtown shooting, Gov. Bob McDonnell wants to look at all resources to keep campuses from kindergarten through college safe.
In the wake of Friday's school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has announced a state plan to review school safety in Virginia at all levels. McDonnell said Monday he plans to identify statewide and locality, school division, college and university resource needs to "ensure that we are doing everything humanly possible to keep our children, young people and educators safe while they are in the classroom." "Just as public safety is the bedrock responsibility of government, the safety of our young people must continue to be the top priority in our schools and our campuses," McDonnell said in a statement. The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, and the Leesburg, Purcellville and Middleburg police …
Randy Rawson
10:35 am on Friday, February 15, 2013
Your article rightly points out: "Yet another part of the report suggested the three main factors — access to guns, mental instability and violent media — could be linked," with "access to guns" as number one. I frankly don't care if banning military-type assault weapons and high-capacity ammo clips does or does not help solve the problem of gun violence or mass shootings -- they are both … more ›