World News Korner

Police officers brings AR-15 to elementary school. Child does what children do. And rifle does what rifles do. Three injured.

Courtesy of ABC News:

Authorities are investigating after an accidental discharge of a weapon at an elementary school in Chino Wednesday morning.

The incident happened at an outdoor assembly recognizing "Red Ribbon Week" at Newman Elementary School in Chino.

Police said a student approached a police motorcycle that was on display and pulled the trigger of an AR-15 rifle that was locked into a weapons mount on the side of the motorcycle. The rifle was never removed from the mounting device.

Police say two boys suffered minor injuries when they were struck by metal debris that came from the bullet disintegrating as it hit a metal plate where the barrel rests against the weapons mount. According to officials, that's meant to be a fail safe measure, which worked.

A third student was assessed at the school and released to parents.

"When I heard it, I heard a big bang," said 11-year-old Leo Castaneda.

Castaneda says right before the gunshot, Chino police officers were hanging out with students as part of the drug prevention campaign activities.

"The cops were playing with the kids...and giving out stickers and they weren't watching the armor, so the kid got hold of the gun and he shot it at the ground and he got startled by the noise and dropped it and started running through the field," said Castaneda.

Police say they are trying to figure out how a young child was able to get access to the weapon. Many parents say they're just grateful no one was seriously injured or killed.

You know what might have been helpful here? More guns in this school.

Well, at least that is the position of a certain gun lobby.

I think this does a pretty good job of illustrating the insanity of the NRA's position that arming teachers and putting more guns into a school as a method for reducing school shootings.

The fact is that children are inquisitive creatures, which essentially is their job, and the lure of weaponry in their school will be almost impossible for them to resist. And no trained educator would expect them to do so.

If school districts nation wide were to take the NRA's recommendation that teachers in our public schools should be armed the obvious result would be an uptick in school shootings that would more than likely make what we have seen in the last twenty years seem insignificant by comparison.

There is a reason that parents childproof their home, and a school should be the safest possible environment for our children, and for the most part it is.

How about we keep it that way?

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