Getting Weapons Out of Schools

Schools are no place for weapons. But 547 students were caught with knives and 145 with guns in the Los Angeles Unified School District last year. Those who arm themselves after March 1 face automatic expulsion under a guideline approved by the school board this week.

The new regulation should make it somewhat easier for students, less distracted by violence, to learn.

Once a student is expelled, a committee will decide whether he will be transferred or will attend a special “continuation” school. Some will earn their way back into their regular schools; others will be excluded from the entire system.

The new policy does not answer all problems. Many campuses are fairly open, and intruders cause trouble. However, teachers got new authority last week: the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they can search students if there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that a student has committed a crime or broken a school rule.

The automatic-expulsion guideline will not keep all weapons out of the city’s schools, but it will stop the students who care about the consequences. That will make schools safer and better places to learn.