For Immediate Release

On Sixth Anniversary of Columbine School Massacre, Maryland’s Leading Gun Violence Prevention Organization Notes Lack of Improved Safety, Calls for Greater Effort

April 19th , 2005

CeaseFire Maryland Cites Red Lake Slaughter, Warns of Future Massacres, Names NRA’s Call to Arm Teachers “Barbaric”

Baltimore, MD: Noting that six years ago tomorrow two armed students planned and executed an epochal massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, Leah Barrett, Executive Director of CeaseFire Maryland, the statewide group devoted to reducing gun violence said: “April 20th is always a sad day for CeaseFire Maryland and students and parents across the country. Sad because we mourn the loss of students and a teacher that horrible spring day in Colorado, as we also mourn the loss of so many other students and teachers in places like Jonesboro, Pearl, Paducah and, less than a month ago, Red Lake, Minnesota. But sad also because so little has been done to keep guns out of the hands of youngsters intent on death and mayhem. If we were judged solely on how we protect our children, we would get a failing grade with regard to firearms.”

Barrett pointed to the expiration of the federal Assault Weapons Ban last September and the expansion of state laws allowing the concealed carrying of handguns in public as examples of the country’s failure to act to reduce gun violence. She said: “It has even become legal in some states to carry concealed handguns in schools, of all places. Fortunately, Maryland has not succumbed to this madness.”

Barrett continued: “Despite all of the carnage in our schools, all the grief and shock among families, neighborhoods and communities, still the gun lobby wants more guns in more places, including schools. Yes, the gun lobby’s twisted response to the Red Lake and preceding school shootings was to call for teachers to be armed, as if more guns will result in less gun violence. It’s an absurd and dangerous notion and has no place in Maryland’s schools.”

Lisa Miller Delity, President of CeaseFire Maryland and a teacher at the Benjamin Tasker Middle School in Prince Georges County, said: “President Bush and the current Congress have worked shamelessly for the morally bankrupt interests of the gun lobby and industry and against the welfare of the youth of our country. They have made sure guns are readily available to young people by refusing to close the gun show loophole, allowing the Assault Weapons Ban to expire and destroying gun background check information before law enforcement can complete comprehensive checks. Meanwhile we mourn the loss of thousands of youth each year.”

Barrett concluded: “We must treat gun violence as the public health problem that it is. This country needs sensible public policies that regulate guns for consumer health and safety. Until Americans demand a more productive and less partisan approach to dealing with gun violence, our children will continue to die.”