Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms officer inspecting school area
(Source: Ray Chavez, Bay Area News Group)
On Wednesday, September 28, six civilians were injured in a shooting at Rudsdale Continuation High school. Two adults were critically injured and subsequently hospitalized, one was in a stable condition, and the last three have fully recovered and been released from the hospital. Although there were no deaths, the fear incited by this event can be clearly seen, as all schools in King Estates Campus were closed on Thursday.
Thankfully, due to proper lockdown procedures and immediate action taken by teachers who heard the gunshots, injuries were kept to a minimum. After a 1 hour lockdown, the authorities arrived to evacuate everyone and secure the campus. The suspect or suspects, who fired off a combined amount of more than 30 rounds, have not been apprehended.
Authorities believe that the shooting was related to gang activity in Oakland. Even though Oakland authorities report a lower number of crimes compared to last year, crime remains an issue in East Oakland’s poorer areas. Oakland already experienced a shooting earlier in August, albeit by a gun that accidently went off. 130 school shootings have already happened this year throughout the nation, with 30 of them ending with injuries or deaths. Furthermore, the lack of a reliable and protective policy against gun violence at schools has led to a widespread fear for the safety of the children.
People are now demanding that stricter gun laws be implemented. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff released a statement on Thursday, claiming that the county of Oakland will try to prevent such a tragedy from happening again, citing the federal government's job to do so, along with pointing out “[t]he unbridled access to firearms in our country is inexcusable”. Oakland’s police chief has made clear his intention to increase the number of officers on patrol, and redeploy the police force in an effort to prevent gun violence. The Oakland Unified School District has re-evaluated the safety of its school campuses, and got a 2/10 on the Facilities and Condition Index. A predicted $747,304 worth of security improvements are needed, and funding for such a project is unclear. The district has decided to enact a program to train school staff to respond appropriately in the event of another school shooting. The Oakland Police department struggles with funding, suffering from shortages as a result.
As we have seen from the United States v. Lopez case, the federal government must be careful with how it implements gun control, as an overly controlling policy of guns within states could be seen as an abuse of power and therefore unconstitutional. That view has changed, as reducing the amount of restrictions removes the issues with the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act. Recently, federal requirements for background checks and increases in age limit have been going through, although it may not be enough.
As seen with Oakland’s situation, it is one thing to implement policy, but to enforce policy on such a larger scale is an entirely different matter. Oakland struggles with finding enough personnel and obtaining the funding necessary to increase security measures. Furthermore, increasing the response to gun violence doesn’t actually fix the root cause of the issue. Figuring out how to control gun possession is something that the federal government and states must work together to do.
First, finding out the cause of gang violence in Oakland is one of the necessary steps that must be taken to prevent further incidents like this. Next, the state and federal government need to figure out how to effectively enforce gun control policy. Since the federal government cannot directly enforce gun control laws, it could try to help states by offering categorical or block grants, and have the states figure out how to best implement additional gun control for their individual situations. Finally, improving Oakland county’s law enforcement’s ability to protect the people is crucial in establishing a sense of security and comfort. Angelica Nodal, the mother of a boy who was at school during the shooting, says, “It’s scary…There’s kids, not only mine in there. Everyone matters in there”. Children are the hope for the future, and protecting their lives instead of giving them lasting trauma is crucial.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/28/us/oakland-ca-school-shooting.html
4 comments:
In recent years, California's firearm death rate is decreasing compared to the rest of the U.S. However, school shooting cases still seem to be a prevalent issue in California. Although California has implemented many gun restriction laws every gun sale must go through a licensed dealer, and there is a possibility that gang-related activities can sneak past those laws. For the safety of the general public, there must be some kind of federal or state strict enforcement of such laws, if not more.
Unfortunately, it seems right now that this tragic wake of gun violence in Oakland will never cease. Just this past weekend in Oakland, there was a shooting on Saturday and another on Sunday. In total, two were killed and two were wounded, the two that were killed being High School Students. I agree with your point in your blog that action must be taken on multiple fronts to properly stop this problem. I also think that some actions must be taken to pacify the negative effects of this violence. According to an SF Chronicle article, the high school that the two students that were killed attended has planned to offer “comprehensive counseling services” to students on Monday. While offering counseling doesn’t directly address gun violence, it’s still an important step to offer support to those who are mentally affected by the tragic gun violence.
I agree with your point that the causes of gang violence must also be addressed. According to the previously referenced SF Chronicle article, homicides have seen a major spike since the start of the pandemic. From this, one can infer that the inequity of online school was a major cause, as being part of a gang was one of the few ways to be part of a group during this time, so underprivileged students became drawn to gang violence in higher numbers than before. Oakland could address this by increasing outreach and accessibility to programs that encourage students to focus on school and don’t reinforce the idea that academics are not meant for some students.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Another-mass-shooting-in-Oakland-2-dead-2-17481601.php
I completely agree-- although the federal government may implement gun control policies, it still cannot force state legislatures to enforce those policies. Grants, categorical grants, as u mentioned could possibly support states to follow the tedious, yet very necessary, steps for the safety of U.S. citizens (especially from guns... school shootings must be put to an end). All in all, the ban of guns may be deemed unconstitutional which allows for Conservative states to have lax gun control policies, or the lack-there-of. To what extent can states be allowed this kind of freedom? To what degree does freedom become a danger?
Well said, I find it funny how much trouble a single gun can cause. As the federal governemnt cannot control what is going on with guns in the states, there should be policies to help prevent such sales of the weapon. States should see the increase in gun violence as an issue and work with the federal government to limit these cases as much as possible. Although California's gun death rate is lower than most states, there are cases of homocides and mass shootings. Better inforcement should be imposed because although California has these strict gun laws, there are loop holes around it and in the end, people still get their hands on these deadly firearms. Does freedom have to come at the cost of other people's lives? Shouldn't the government see these violent hate crimes as something that is turning our country haywire?
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