Focus on discipline, character and safety in schools
Gore’s education plan calls for a renewed focus on discipline, character and safety in schools. Gore would create second-chance schools where children headed for trouble, and those caught with guns, could receive the strict discipline and
intensive services they need. Under a Gore administration more children would have a place to learn in the afternoon hours when most juvenile crime, teen pregnancy, alcohol and drug use occur.
Source: Press release for Conference of Black Mayors
Apr 28, 2000
Solution is gun control, V-chips, and character education
Marking the one-year anniversary of the Columbine tragedy, Al Gore today stressed the need to address the challenge of school violence “from every angle,” and discussed a variety of approaches to prevent future tragedies. “We still search for the meaning
that lies behind this tragedy,” Gore said. “But as I said at Columbine just days after the shootings, all of us must change our lives to honor these children. For every one of us is responsible for the children of our culture.”
Specifically,
Gore called for:
Common sense measures to keep guns away from children: safety locks & background checks.
Giving parents tools to protect children from violence: V-chips and Internet filters.
An increased focus on discipline and character
education.
Stressing the need to identify the early warning signs of trouble, Gore called for making counseling more available, improving discipline and expanding character education in schools.
Source: Press Release, Fort Lee, NJ
Apr 20, 2000
Ban guns in churches; “lock box” for crime funding
Gore announced today that he would ban firearms from places of worship and where school events are held, and highlighted his comprehensive anti-crime agenda. Gore also announced the administration’s support of a Senate proposal that would create a
budgetary “lock-box” for law enforcement. “We need to seize upon the growing consensus that it is time to get guns away from those who should not have them,” Gore said. “I believe in the rights of hunters, sportsmen and legitimate gun owners. But America
cannot afford another Columbine, or Paducah, or Jonesboro.“
Gore would fight to enact legislation to prohibit the carrying of a firearm in churches, synagogues, mosques, and all places of worship, as well as places where school events are held. And
Gore supports ”lock box“ legislation that would protect criminal justice funding for the next five years, and would allow local communities to plan for the future without having to worry every year that their funds would be used for other purposes.
Source: Press Release
Apr 14, 2000
Tough gun laws & so much more, to stop child tragedies
Q: Your comments on the shocking incident of the 6-year-old boy shooting a girl in a 1st-grade classroom?
BRADLEY: How many lives will have to be taken by gunfire, how many families will have to be marred for life? We need very tough gun legislation,
registration and licensing of all handguns, gun dealers out of residential neighborhoods, trigger locks, background checks, but above all, what we need is a leader who’s committed to this every day he’s in office. Otherwise, you’ll never beat the NRA.
GORE: I feel so deeply for the family of this little girl who was killed. The boy [lived in] a flophouse, [with] guns laying around. We need child-safety trigger locks. We need to ban junk guns. We need to reinstate the 3-day waiting period. We need
to also deal with drugs. That was part of this problem. We need more psychologists and guidance counselors in our schools and more teachers with smaller classes so they can keep track of these students and their family situation. And so much more.
Source: Democrat debate in Los Angeles
Mar 1, 2000
Zero tolerance for guns at school; raise age to 21
Q: How would you protect children from firearms? A: I will support legislation requiring gun manufacturers to put child-safety trigger locks on all guns. In our schools, I will have zero tolerance for guns. And I will work to raise the age for
handgun possession from 18 to 21 and to enact stiff new penalties for adults who sell guns to minors. We should enact a 3-day waiting period for all handgun purchases, and require buyers to obtain a license after passing a background check & safety test.
Source: National Association of Children’s Hospitals survey
Jan 8, 2000
We need more self-restraint in the media
Q: Your comments on the release of the Columbine High School videotapes. A: [Among other things], we need more self-restraint in the media. You know, 20,000 murders viewed by the average child by the time of high school graduation is just ridiculous.
You saw in those videotapes how the two perpetrators of that violence made reference to a particular violent video game and made other references to popular culture. That’s not to blame popular culture. But I think that some kids are vulnerable to having
seeds planted that bear a bitter fruit. I think we need more psychologists and guidance counselors, more help for schools to take the steps that they think will be most effective in their school districts. And finally, we also need to address
the deeper problems of giving kids a sense that their lives have meaning and purpose, and that means committing ourselves to their future, modernizing their schools, reducing the size of the classrooms.
Source: Town Hall Meeting, Nashua NH
Dec 18, 1999
Make schools violence-free and drug-free
Gore has called for more character education and discipline in our schools. He has called for strong national measures to break up violent teen gangs and keep guns and drugs off the streets and away from schools. He has worked to put more drug counselors
and violence prevention coordinators in public schools. And he has championed quality after-school care, to give children safe, supervised places to go during the afternoon hours when most juvenile crime takes place.
Source: (Cross-ref from Education) www.AlGore2000.com/issues/educate
Jun 14, 1999
Faith-based crime prevention via clergy outreach
Al Gore has worked to prevent crime from happening in the first place, through a comprehensive approach that includes more jobs and economic development in neglected neighborhoods, and alternatives to crime and drugs such as quality after-school care. He
believes we should promote faith-based crime prevention, through which clergy and faith-based groups reach out to troubled youth, and steer them away from crime, drugs, and gangs.
Source: www.AlGore2000.com/issues/crime.html 5/16/99
May 16, 1999
Tough “Second-chance schools” for kids
Today, I propose the creation of second-chance schools - where kids headed for trouble, and those caught with guns, can receive the strict discipline and intensive services they need. For all schools, there should be a simple policy toward guns: zero
tolerance, period. All schools should be gun-free, drug-free, and safe and secure. We should increase our commitment to after-school care this year, so children have a place to learn in those afternoon hours when most juvenile crimes occur.
Source: Commencement address: Graceland College, Iowa
May 16, 1999
Click here for 3 older quotations from Al Gore on Juvenile Crime.
Click here for definitions & background information on Juvenile Crime.
