Jean Marzollo died in her sleep at the age of 75. The Network for Public Education expresses its sincere condolences to her family. Jean was a staunch and generous supporter of our work on behalf of public schools, early childhood education, children’s privacy, and other issues that she cared about.

She was well known as the author of the popular “I Spy” series for children. She wrote more than 150 children’s books, all reflecting her love of children and her understanding of their curiosity and humor.

She was born in Manchester, Connecticut, and graduated from Manchester High School. She graduated from the University of Connecticut, earned an MA in teaching at the Harvard graduate school of education and taught high school English. She worked in the publishing industry and eventually began writing books for children.

The millions of children who enjoyed her whimsical writings will miss her.

So will we at the Network for Public Education.

Other countries regulate guns the way we regulate automobiles.

You can’t just walk into a dealer and buy a car. You have to be a licensed driver. You have to pass tests. You have to renew your license periodically. The car must be registered. It must be inspected regularly.

Sure, there are accidents with cars. But the car was not designed to kill. Guns are designed to kill. They should be treated as the lethal weapons they are. Every gun should be registered. Every gun owner should be licensed and subject to tests at least as rigorous and as regular as drivers. Every gun owner should be legally liable for the misuse of his or her gun.

The United States has minimal requirements for buying a gun. Although some cities restrict gun ownership, guns are readily available in most states and at gun shows and on the Internet. A purchaser might buy a gun in less than an hour.

Other countries have established high barriers to gun ownership. It is possible to buy a gun but not easy.

Japan

1. Join a hunting or shooting club.

2. Take a firearm class and pass a written exam, which is held up to three times a year.

3. Get a doctor’s note saying you are mentally fit and do not have a history of drug abuse.

4. Apply for a permit to take firing training, which may take up to a month.

5. Describe in a police interview why you need a gun.

6. Pass a review of your criminal history, gun possession record, employment, involvement with organized crime groups, personal debt and relationships with friends, family and neighbors.

7. Apply for a gunpowder permit.

8. Take a one-day training class and pass a firing test.

9. Obtain a certificate from a gun dealer describing the gun you want.

10. Buy a gun safe and an ammunition locker that meet safety regulations.

11. Allow the police to inspect your gun storage.

12. Pass an additional background review.

13. Buy a gun.

Japan has the lowest rate of gun homicides in the world.

Australia

After the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996, where a man methodically killed 35 random people and injured many more at a popular tourist site, Australia made it more difficult to get a gun. Gun ownership is a privilege, not a right.

1. Join and regularly attend a hunting or shooting club, or document that you’re a collector.

2. Complete a course on firearm safety and operation, and pass a written test and practical assessment.

3. Arrange firearm storage that meets safety regulations.

4. Pass a review that considers criminal history, domestic violence, restraining orders and arrest history. Authorities may also interview your family and community members.

5. Apply for a permit to acquire a specific type of weapon.

6. Wait at least 28 days.

7. Buy the specific type of gun you received a permit for.

The article in the New York Times describes the gun laws in 13 other countries.

Those who mistakenly claim that the Second Amendment protects their unlimited right to buy any kind of gun ignore the fact that Congress banned assault weapons from 1994-2004. Before the ban was passed, it was endorsed by former Presidents Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.

The Second Amendment does not prevent us from regulating guns. The NRA and their bought politicians do.

This is a powerful article about how schools are responding to the culture of gun violence. Why is this happening? Could it be because we have a Congress and a President whose loyalty has been purchased by the National Rifle Association? Our leaders refuse to enact meaningful control of guns. They send their thoughts and prayers. I’m counting on the younger generation to vote them out of office.

<a href=”https://nyti.ms/2GwHpoy“>This is school in America now.</a>

James Poniewozik, The Chief television critic of the New York Times, wrote it.

“The heartbreaking thing about the images — one heartbreaking thing among many — is the precision. The cooperation. The orderliness.

“Time after time, a report comes of another everyday nightmare at an American school, and with it, a harrowing ritual. We see the children — those who survived — filmed from news helicopters, leaving the building in neat lines. They’re 16 years old, or 11, or six. Their hands are in the air, or on one another’s shoulders. Heads down, or eyes looking around anxiously.

“It’s an image of relief and horror. They’re in transit, away from the killing zone but not entirely safe yet either.

“They came to school in cars or on buses. They walk away from it the way we’re used to seeing prisoners walk. Arms up. Fingers spread apart. Show us that you are safe, you are unarmed, you are not a threat.

“The news anchors narrating say that the children are leaving school, but make no mistake: What you are watching, this frightened, exhausted procession, is school now. It is what your children are taught. Lockdown drills, active shooter drills. It’s a procedure they have learned, and what you are seeing is a kind of horrible field trip, a deadly exam.

“You send your kids to school, and one of the things they learn is how not to die.

“It’s devastating how well they’ve absorbed the lesson. Every time I see another American class walk out, the lucky ones, I’m struck by the calm, the cooperation. In the worst imaginable moment, the hands go up, and they put faith in what adults have promised them: Just follow the rules, and you’ll be all right.

“The schools are in Texas, Florida, Connecticut, Washington, California — in different sizes and kinds of communities. But everywhere, in those aerial shots, you see the signs and symbols of a society’s investment in children’s future. The green athletic fields. The school buses lined up like yellow bricks. The expansive parking lots. The multicolored backpacks, with their books and papers emptied on the ground to prove that they are not weapons.

“I want to say that these images are powerful. “Powerful” isn’t really the right word, though, is it? They’re affecting. They’re wrenching. They’re painful. But “powerful” — that suggests that they achieve something, that they have an effect on the larger world, and honestly, do they?

“They feel as if they should. So many times we see these pictures, and even knowing that we’ve seen them before, it feels as if, this time, it should be different. The children were so young, or the death toll so high, or the repetition, simply, so great — it hurts so much, this time, that we’ll snap out of our inertia and our defensive stances and take some action.

“And there are actions, sometimes. The February shooting in Parkland, Fla., started a movement based not on the strength of adults’ actions, but on the mobilization of students who realized that they could only count on themselves.

“Still, change comes slow. Time drags on. People forget. Kids are smart — they’ve learned this lesson, too. After the mass shooting Friday in Santa Fe, Tex., a student told CBS News that the killings didn’t surprise her at all. “It’s been happening everywhere,” she said. “I’ve always kind of felt eventually it was going to happen here, too.”

“So the ritual goes on. Another group of children — our children — flees a school. They throw their hands up. Eventually, so do we.”

Sent from my iPad