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Show 4A Friday, October 23, 2015 SO STANDARD EXAMINER Brandon Erlacher Publisher Gregory Hailing, Executive Editor Doug Gibson, Managing Editor, Print Karla Woodward, Scott Parkinson, Dennis Kunimura, Marketing Director At-large Editorial Board member At-large Editorial Board membe OUR VIEW Planning a school shooting isn't child's play Take a gun to school, get a misdemeanor. That's the law in Utah, and it needs to change. Because after what happened this week in Marriott-Slaterville, students need to understand there's a price to pay for threatening the lives of others. A serious price to pay. Sheriff's investigators say three 15-year-olds planned a drive-by shooting at Venture Academy, where about 500 students attend high school. Another student heard about the plot and informed school officials, who detained the boys. When deputies arrived at Venture, they found the boys with a loaded ammunition clip, a box of .22- caliber bullets, a large folding knife and razor blades. ' All they needed was a gun. Administrators suspended the students while officers continued their investigation. But even if they're charged and convicted, the boys face little more than a stern lecture from a judge. According to Weber County Sheriff's Lt. Lane Findley, Utah law says the students couldn't be charged with more than possessing a weapon in a restricted area or illegal possession of a weapon by a minor — both misdemeanors. "The current law ties prosecutors' hands on what they can charge, and this is a crime that affected a lot of people," Findlay told Loretta Park, a reporter for the Standard- Examiner. Findley suggested an enhancement to the law, allowing prosecutors to charge students with felonies if they bring weapons to school with the intent of harming others. A Northern Utah lawmaker likes the idea. "I think there will be legislation to tie up some of those loopholes in the current law," Sen. Jerry Stevenson, a Layton Republican, told Park. At the right time of any given school day, a drive-by shooting could kill students, teachers, administrators, parents and bystanders. Planning that kind of death and destruction is no innocent prank, no expression of teenage angst, no kid's game. It's a felony, and the law needs to reflect it. |
