Oregon governor pushes gun storage education after fatal school shooting

Oregon's governor is directing public schools to teach parents about a safe storage law that was already on the books when a gunman killed four people at a Bend elementary school.

Snapshot

Gov. Tina Kotek has declared a state of emergency at Bend-La Pine Schools and the High Desert Education Service District following the Oct. 15 shooting at Silver Rail Elementary, where three students and one teacher were killed by a 16-year-old armed with a shotgun reportedly purchased by his mother. Kotek is also directing the Oregon Department of Education to require schools to educate parents on the state's mandatory firearm storage requirements.

Key points

• The attack: A 16-year-old killed three students and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary in Bend on Oct. 15 with a shotgun reportedly bought by his mother.
• The emergency declaration: Kotek's order lets the affected districts bypass certain state requirements, such as minimum instructional time, while they recover.
• The new directive: Kotek is requiring schools to teach parents about Oregon's existing safe-storage law, saying "Having a law is not enough if people do not understand what it requires or how to comply with that."
• Unanswered question: Kotek acknowledged investigators have not said whether the mother violated the storage law, and she said she had no further information to share.

Quick take

Tom Knighton of Bearing Arms argues Oregon's storage law already failed to stop the shooting, and that pushing schools to "educate" parents about a law that didn't work won't change that outcome. He also notes that a bystander reportedly had to act outside the law's constraints to intervene, and that Democrats in the legislature previously blocked proposals for armed school security. For readers tracking how states respond to school shootings, this is a case study in where lawmakers are choosing to focus next.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com