Hindsight from The New Gun Week April 10, 1998
Jonesboro Shooting: Headlines But No Answers
by Joseph P. Tartaro
Executive EditorThere must be few people in the world today that do not know that two young boys wearing camouflage opened fire on Westside Middle School students shortly after noon on March 24 in Jonesboro, AR, as they assembled outside during a fake fire alarm believed set off by the younger of the accused. Four students and one teacher attempting to shield another child were killed.
The tragedy has grabbed headlines around the world.
The dead were: Natalie Brooks, 12; Paige Ann Herring, 12; Stephanie Johnson, 12; Brittany R. Varner, 11, and heroic teacher Shannon Wright, 32. Nine other students, aged 11-13, and a teacher, Sara Thetford, 42, were wounded. All of the victims were female, except for one wounded boy who is a cousin of the youngest suspect.
The two boys, 11, and 13, were reported to have fired while lying in wait in nearby woods using guns stolen from the home of the younger child's grandfather. In order to steal the three rifles and four handguns believed used in the shooting, the boys had to break a window and then get through a locked door.
The younger boy's grandfather said the guns taken from his house were a .30-06 rifle, a .44-caliber Magnum with scopes and a World War II vintage .30-caliber carbine. Also stolen were a pair of small semi-automatic pistols, a .38-caliber Smith and Wesson revolver and a .22-caliber Magnum two-barrel derringer that didn't work.
Police would not link the guns to the boy, but confirmed that two of the recovered rifles had the same calibers as those stolen. Police said as many as 27 shots were fired.
Authorities didn't release the boys' names, but The Jonesboro Sun identified them as Mitchell Johnson, 13, and his cousin, Andrew Golden, 11. Under state law, children under age 14 are charged only in Juvenile Court and can be held only until they turn 18. But Prosecutor Brent Davis said his office is "trying to ascertain exactly what our options are" in bringing more serious charges.
A Juvenile Court judge in Jonesboro-130 miles northeast of Little Rock-ordered the boys held until an April 29 hearing. They face five counts of murder and 10 counts of battery. They did not enter pleas at the first hearing.
Explanations
Police did not offer a motive, but classmates said the 13-year-old had recently broken up with his girlfriend. A day earlier, he had said he "had a lot of killing to do," schoolmate Jamie Clevenger told The Jonesboro Sun.
Charles Vanoven, 12, another seventh-grader, said the 13-year-old also had pulled a knife on another student on that Monday. Other students said the boy was specifically targeting one of the girls wounded.
"He said he was definitely going to shoot Candace because she had broken up with him," sixth-grader Kara Tate, 11, told the Sun.
The Arkansas shooting was at least the third fatal shooting in a school in the past five months. As in the Jonesboro case, all the dead were girls. On Dec. 1, a boy opened fire on a student prayer circle at a high school in West Paducah, KY, killing three students and wounding five. Two months earlier, two students died at a shooting in Pearl, MS.
Two students also were wounded in Arkansas in December when a student sniper opened fire in the southwestern Arkansas town of Stamps.
Congressional Action
A laboratory that designs components for nuclear weapons would make its security technology available to schools under a bill the Senate hastily passed March 26 in reaction to several recent fatal schoolyard shooting rampages.
Other legislative proposals are also being advanced, and the shooting is likely to give new impetus to the Youth Crime Bill which has been stalled in the Senate.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), said he is drafting legislation to hold adults responsible when their guns are used by children in a crime.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has proposed new legislation in the Senate to ban high capacity magazines. A companion bill in the House is being offered by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and other representatives.
Many of the commentators tried to shift the blame on the rural traditions and culture, claiming that the hunting ethic and guns are to blame. Some suggested that the gun and hunting culture in which young people are taught to shoot and hunt at an early age is at fault. However, a Hearst newspapers survey published last fall shows that there is no difference between the South and Northeast with respect to people acquiring their first gun before age 20.
But the debate is sure to continue. Here's a sampling from a couple of sources.
Abolish 2nd Amendment
The Marion Star, Marion, OH, in a March 29 editorial represented the extreme. Their view:
"All private ownership of guns should be banned in the United States"
The New Gun Week is published three times a month by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) on the 1st, 10th, and 20th. Hindsight is a commentary written by SAF President and Gun Week Executive Editor Joseph P. Tartaro. This commentary may be reprinted so long as credit is given to the author and the publication. For more information or to subscribe, write Gun Week, PO Box 488, Buffalo, NY 14209, or call 716-885-6408 Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, or inquire on Compuserve to John Krull, Production manager-JohnSAF@Compuserve.com or gunweeksaf@broadviewnet.netAlso, check out the New Gun Week at http://www.GunWeek.com