Because guns are so very available, and many, many see them as an easy solution to problems. How many will it take before the wanna-be cowboys wake up?

According to news, gun was in a backpack, and went off when dropped. Stupid--do I think teen should go to jail-No I don't ..Yes he should be punished. I use to live in the area for many years, and it is a good area. Yes there is crime etc, but who does not have it. Police are great and well trained in the area.

Sjerin, my sentiments entirely. Everytime I hear about these events, my thoughts....guns again! so sad, and I'll never understand the worship of killing machines over human lives.

where in ca? did a quick gogglea nd nothing came up..

detroit had one yesterday...poor girl walked home before she realized she'd been shot in the ankle...

This one was in Gardena which is close to Compton. Compton is a very bad area. I do think the kid should be expelled for bringing a loaded gun to school.

And how do kids get access to guns to put in their backpacks? what is going on at home? Anything? I know that my kids used to try and take things to school in their backpacks that they shouldn't - thank God at that point it was make up, cigarettes, other typical kid stuff - never violent weapons. I confess that I used to go through their backpacks and their rooms just to keep my head, and theirs, in the right place.

I am assuming this kid is a gang member and bought the gun on the street. There is probably not much parental involvement with the student.

Guns aren't the problem. It's the bad parenting where parents don't raise their kids right.

A KID brought a GUN into a SCHOOL and you don't think he should go to jail? Where do you want him, at your house? I definitely do not want him in the school where I work or where MY kids go!! He isn't carrying it because it keeps his back pack neat and tidy!

just listened to the news report...the boy wasn't a gang member...his biggest mistake was thinking a gun would help with suspected bullying..

sad to say the school needs more than wand checks as kids enter. it's getting so schools in "good" areas, have metal detectors now...

big schools (3000 students) = big problems...

It went of "accidentally"? Guns only fire if they're loaded and ready to shoot. If it was dropped, that was the accident that prompted the gun to do what it was set to do.

Whether he was a gang member or not is a moot point. He had a loaded gun and brought it to school with intent to use it (whether as threat or to shoot, it was loaded and ready).

Of course he should go to jail.

They are easy to get. It's a societal problem, not just a personal family problem. Guns affect ALL of us.

I wouldn't put the kid in jail. I'd put him in a rehab type program. The gun was against the school rules. It's possible that no actual laws were broken. It sounds as if he were carrying it as a form of self defense and not just looking to go out and shoot someone.

Did he have a license to carry that gun? I honestly don't know. But if not, laws certainly were broken.

And, if he was intending to use it as self defense, then he was intending to shoot someone - - - it was loaded and ready to shoot. If he just wanted to scare a bully, he wouldn't have needed to have it that way.

And even another one this afternoon. LA City Schools has its own police officers, and one was shot not by a student but by an adult who has so far evaded capture. The policeman was wearing a protective vest and will be ok.

Local schools are on lockdown at this afternoon. Poor kids stuck in classrooms for hours.

How people shirk the parental responsibility is beyond me. First caveat, I don't know the details of this, only what's been said here, but so far it says he got the gun from home. That's the parents' territory and parents' responsibility. The kid can't "go to Walmart" and buy a gun and ammo. Possibly can buy it on the streets but there's some parental issues there too.

IF the facts show the parents had the gun and allowed the kid access, well, if they had it they obviously allowed him access, and in that case the parents should go to jail. You don't blame the gun, knife, lead pipe, rope or candlestick for incompetent parenting. The societal problem is not holding incompetent parents responsible and accountable. Around here if your kid breaks a window, *you* are responsible to pay for it. Why should any other crime be any different? Oh, that's right, we don't want to hold anyone responsible, after all, they were traumatized, didn't have cable TV in their bedroom, didn't have a car or whatever other lame excuse comes up.

I grew up in a house with guns. In fact, the gun cabinet was right next to my bed in the attic. But I knew d@mn good and well what would happen to me if I touched it without permission and I was taught respect. Period. Today it's the fear of traumatizing little Jimmy and Jill. You never say no to them. And that's pure BS.

And I find it hard to believe no laws were broken by bringing a weapon (of any type) onto school grounds!

but it all comes back to bullying in the schools which isn't being addressed by the schools or the law...

as long as people are permitted to purchase guns, kids will take them, and be stupid...no matter how well they're hidden or locked up...

it's like this merry-go-round that just won't quit...maybe someday we'll get off...

Sorry, but bullying is first the responsibility of parents, too. Yes, the schools, and maybe the law ... maybe, should participate in correcting it, but it's the parents' first.

And I agree with cynic 100%.

Yes, the responsibility is with the parents, of course, but the fact remains that MANY parents don't have a clue. Since they won't do anything about the problem and often won't even acknowledge a problem, it then falls to the school administrators to handle them. They shouldn't have to do this, but this is our reality. For too many years they tried to ignore it and hoped it would go away, and I'm truly gratified to see more schools taking the bull by the horns and addressing bullying with specific programs that do work. These poor kids don't know how to consider others' feeling--they just never had the chance to learn.