Another Preventable Tragedy: School Shooting at El Cajon Calls for Immediate

Action

Washington, DC - "Another tragic shooting in one of America's schools demands

action on the part of our leaders to stop youth access to guns; to create

schools that can foster a caring community; and to begin holding adults

liable for failing to prevent youth and criminal access to their firearms,"

said John Calhoun, president and CEO of the National Crime Prevention Council

(NCPC) and former U.S. Commissioner of the Administration for Children,

Youth, and Families.

Calhoun called on all Americans to take action to make adults liable for

youth and criminal access to firearms, to demand that boards of education

examine school size, student - counselors ratios, and to assure the public

that we are doing all we can to promote caring and safe environments where

students can learn free from fear.

Calhoun said, "The image of students fleeing one of our schools as a result

of gun fire and fear is becoming all too familiar." NCPC will encourage

citizens to call on local policy makers to adopt policies and programs that

hold adults criminally and civilly liable when their guns are used in the

commission of a crime. Further, it is time that we spend resources to reduce

school size and lower the ratio of counselors to students. Troubled students

need to know that caring adults are available to help solve problems.

"Creating caring and accepting environments for all students should be our

number one priority," said Calhoun. "We have become a nation of experts in

rapid response - something we should always be prepared to do. We have become

experts in giving care to the bereaved and grieving - as we should be.

However, it is time that we become experts in the prevention of senseless

violence. Because we have developed the capacity to respond - let us now

develop the capacity to prevent. There are things we can do and we can begin

taking action now. We need to give as much time and effort to preventing

these tragedies as we are in responding to these tragedies."

NCPC is a private, nonprofit, tax-exempt organization who mission is to help

people prevent crime and build safer, more caring communities. NCPC

accomplishes its mission through training and technical assistance to

national, state and local drug, violence and other crime prevention

practitioners; demonstration programs which create environments for research

and learning; public service advertising via TV, radio and print challenging

viewers to act against violence, drugs and other crimes; the Crime Prevention

Coalition of America (a network of more than 600 national, state, and local

organizations formed to advance the cause of crime prevention); and educating

and informing the field on best practices through highly regarded Web sites,

brochures, booklets, books, videos, posters and kits of localizable,

reproducible public education materials.