In Arizona and Connecticut, disparate responses to mass shootings

By Sarah Ferris and Jessica Boehm

Four months after the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., lawmakers banned 115 types of semiautomatic firearms. Four months after the shooting of a congresswoman and a federal judge in Tucson, lawmakers in Arizona declared the Colt Single Action Army Revolver the official state gun.

The similarities in the attacks were striking: Both were carried out by heavily armed young men with histories of mental illness. But in the aftermath of the tragedies, the states took radically different approaches on gun violence.

Continue reading on The Washington Post GovBeat blog »

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

What we’re reading: Week 10

By Jessica Boehm

Afghanistan may have lost track of more than 200,000 weapons (Thomas Gibbons-Neff, The Washington Post, 7/28) A new report shows that the Afghan Nation Security Forces may have lost track of 43 percent of small arms supplied by the United States.

How military guns make the civilian market (Matt Valentine, The Atlantic, 7/28) With the U.S. Army briefing arms manufacturers on the requirements of a new standard-issue handgun this week, reporter Matt Valentine chronicles how military guns make it into the civilian market.

Bloomberg gun group releases new ad tying guns to domestic violence (Jackie Kucinich, The Washington Post, 7/29) Everytown for Gun Safety released an ad calling on three Republican senators to support a federal legislation to close a loophole that allows many domestic abusers to purchase guns.

Baltimore supermarket swaps guns for groceries (Carrie Wells, The Baltimore Sun, 7/26) A Baltimore supermarket gave $100 gift cards for each gun turned in at a buy back event.

Candidates debate smart guns (Chelsea Feinstein, Sentinel & Enterprise, 7/30) Democratic attorney general candidates in Massachusetts debate guns that use technology to prevent them from being operated by another owner through fingerprint recognition.

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

Arizona lawmaker overcomes “irrational fear” of guns

By Jessica Boehm

Growing up in a small town in Wisconsin with a family that did not own or use guns, Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko said she feared guns and avoided being around them.

But nearly 20 years ago, Lesko, a Republican that has served in the state legislature since 2009, shed her self-described “irrational fear” of guns and is now a member of the National Rifle Association and a supporter of Arizona gun rights legislation.

“I remember quite vividly going to an acquaintance’s house and going in their living room and they had a gun sitting on their coffee table and I felt very nervous even though I knew this person and I knew that they wouldn’t harm me in any way, it just made me very uncomfortable that there was a gun sitting on the coffee table,” Lesko said.

Lesko attended an Arizona Republican district meeting in the late 90s, that she says began to change her mind about her “irrational fear.” Alan Korwin, a well-known gun advocate and writer, said at the meeting that gun control would lead to responsible gun-owners following the law and giving up their guns, while criminals became the only ones with guns.

“That was very simple,” Lesko said. “It was very understandable but I had never thought of it that way.”

Lesko, who is now a gun owner, said that her decision to purchase a gun was not made overnight. She started by going to Shooter’s World, a valley shooting range, for their Ladies Night on Fridays.

“I was very nervous,” Lesko said. “I was very scared. I didn’t know how to hold a gun, I didn’t know how to load a gun, I was afraid to shoot the gun. I was very nervous.”

Years of practice, coupled with her desire to be able to defend herself in a big city, led to the purchase of her first gun.

“I think it’s important, especially as a woman to be able to defend myself because quite frankly if a big guy came after me, I’m not going to be strong enough to defend myself, so this will help protect me,” Lesko said.

Lesko is also a survivor of domestic violence from a previous marriage more than 20 years ago. When thinking back on how a gun would have played into that situation, Lesko says she isn’t sure.

“I don’t know if it would have been good if I owned a gun back then or not because my ex-husband may have stolen it and shot me, I don’t know,” Lesko said. “But I do think that it’s important for women, whether they are victims of domestic violence or not, to have something to protect them.”

Jessica Boehm is a News21 Hearst Fellow.

Building a safer Sandy Hook

By Sarah Ferris

Violent crime is rare in Newtown, the quiet Fairfield County suburb of about 27,000 people. Before the mass killing in 2012, town police counted just four homicides in 27 years.

But since Newtown officials began planning the new Sandy Hook Elementary School, project leader Rob Sibley has heard requests for bulletproof glass, wall-to-wall cameras and barbed-wired fences around the entire perimeter.

Sibley said he understands the need for the highest-possible level of security: His three children and his wife had been inside the school where 26 children and educators were murdered. He was also a first responder to the scene with Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue.

“The reality is that we really need to create a safe school that doesn’t create a prison-like setting,” said Sibley, the town’s deputy land use director. “It’s an extraordinary balancing act.”

Much of the rebuilding in Sandy Hook is unprecedented: Rarely is a town given tens of millions of dollars in state funding and access to top consulting firms for the construction of one building. But even with the industry’s best resources at their fingertips, Sibley said there’s no way to ensure that nothing bad will happen.

“People now recognize that even with [the best] system in place, all it takes is a few bullets to get through it. Suddenly we went from, ‘We can do all of these things,’ to ‘Wow, even in some of the best scenarios and protocols, you can have it not work,” Sibley said.

In the months after the shooting, school security became a town-wide priority. The Newtown Board of Education voted to station armed guards at each of the town’s other elementary schools. The high school and middle school, which already had armed resource officers, doubled down on security and restricted all visitors that didn’t have prior permission to enter.

Armed guards were also installed in many schools across Connecticut, and each school district was asked to map out safety plans in the case of a shooter. Around the country, lawmakers pitched a total of 450 bills related to school security, many of which involved armed staff members.

Rebekah Harriman-Stites at Treadwell Park in Newtown, Connecticut on Monday, June 30, 2014. Harriman-Stites’ son attends a school in Newtown that added armed officers after the Sandy Hook shooting. Morgan Spiehs

Rebekah Harriman-Stites, whose son Fisher attends second grade at nearby Middle Gate Elementary School, said she prefers not to have armed officers at her child’s school.

But then she remembers a conversation with Fisher about six months after the shooting. As she dropped him off at school, Fisher said he never wanted the police officers to leave “because then, somebody’s going to come into my school and shoot everybody.”

Harriman-Stites said she would continue to support armed officers as long as they make her son feel safe – although she doesn’t believe it will protect him completely.

“You want to be able to say, ‘Don’t worry, that’s never going to happen again.’ But you just don’t know, and you don’t want to lie. There’s no guarantee,” she said.

Arene Spoonfeather teaches art at Newtown Middle School and lives just a few minutes outside of Newtown. She thinks about safety constantly, but says pouring money into security won’t ease people’s concerns.

“There is no glass strong enough. There are no bricks strong enough. There are no security guards who can run fast enough,” she said.

She advocates resources for support programs, such as counseling and art therapy for the young kids who were affected because she believes “you’ve got to start with the heart.”

Treating the unseen wounds of gun violence

By Jordan Rubio

For people who have been violently injured, many from gunshot wounds, the staff at Healing Hurt People at Drexel University in Philadelphia is working to heal the mental trauma that can sometimes linger long after physical injuries have healed.

The staff uses an approach called trauma-informed care, which attempts to understand, recognize and respond to the effects of traumatic injuries, such as gunshot injuries.

The program, which also operates in St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, has around 50 patients, including 35 adults and 15 children.

Theodore Corbin, one of the co-directors of the program, said it’s important to look at both the mental and physical aspects of healing after someone has been the victim of a gunshot wound.

“Medicine is really good at healing physical wounds, but not so good at healing mental wounds,” he said.

The program has licensed social workers and an outreach worker who work with the patients to identify goals, such as housing and employment. It also tries to explain to the patient what might happen to them emotionally and mentally after suffering such an injury.

Part of the program’s purpose is to break the cycle of violence and encourage victims not to seek retaliation, according to the program’s website.

Part of that process includes letting clients know that their safety is not about carrying a gun, Corbin said.

“This is something that should absolutely be a staple of health care in the United States, especially in every trauma center.”