On Thursday, a 16-year-old entered an elementary school in Bend, Oregon, with a shotgun and about 44 extra rounds and opened fire in a classroom. Three children and a teacher were killed. Two more people were hurt. A teacher threw her phone, then tried to wrestle the shotgun away from him on the classroom floor. A father who had just driven past the school saw what was happening, grabbed the pistol from his vehicle, and ran inside. He stopped the shooter. Police say the courage of both people saved lives. Even so, four people are dead, and the man who stopped him was left deeply traumatized by what he had to do.
Sign the petition urging Congress to pass a federal safe-storage law and universal background checks, so guns stay out of children's hands.
Investigators are still working to learn how a 16-year-old got a shotgun, and why he did this. What is already clear is that it should never come down to a teacher's bare hands or a passing parent's pistol.
A safe-storage law would require adults to lock firearms away from children. Universal background checks would close the gaps in how guns change hands. Neither would erase the pain of this week, but both are steps Congress can take now to make the next attack less likely.
No teacher should have to wrestle a shotgun away from a teenager, and no father should have to run into a school with a pistol to save a child.
Sign the petition and demand Congress act to keep guns out of children's hands.
