Don’t ‘Get Near Guns,’ Warns One Who Knows

Jacalyn Calabrese, 12, who was shot in the head and killed in a crowded shopping mall in Orange on Monday, was buried Saturday. Her 12-year-old friend, Juan Cardenas, who reportedly is so despondent over her death that he is considered a suicide risk, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the shooting and is being held in Juvenile Hall.

Both youngsters, and their families, are tragic victims of a pistol, and the growing accessibility and use of guns by children.

According to witnesses, Juan had the .25-caliber pistol for weeks and had been showing it off to friends. As a joke Monday, he reportedly held it to the head of another girl before pointing it at Jacalyn. When he did point it at her, she playfully dared him to pull the trigger, witnesses recounted. The gun went off, killing her almost instantly. Child’s play? That is too deadly a game.

It is still unclear how Juan got the gun. And one must wonder why none of the youngsters who had seen the gun mentioned it to a teacher or parent.

Police report a disturbing increase in the number of children with guns. In the last several months in Orange County, teen-agers have been involved in shootings that have killed three people and injured 10 others.

Nationwide, shootings are the fourth leading cause of accidental deaths for children under 14. And California schools report that in the last four years, the number of guns confiscated from middle-school students has increased 43%.

Adults have not seemed to instill in children an awareness of just how deadly guns really are. Through movies, television and games, guns may seem to be part of some make-believe world to 12-year-olds. But in the real world, they kill. Jacalyn Calabrese lost her young life to a handgun, and Juan Cardenas’ life will never be the same, nor will the lives of either of their families, because of that gun.

Guns are a menace and most people favor strict control over them. We will not pass judgment on the Juvenile Court case pending against Juan Cardenas. But the fact that a 12-year-old can get a loaded gun, walk around with it for weeks, show it off to friends and wave it around in a crowded shopping mall, makes a strong case for making it tougher for anyone to acquire a pistol. Even Juan knows that, now. Through his mother, who saw him in Juvenile Hall, he sadly warned others “ . . . to know just not to get near guns.” How many more lives must be lost and ruined before we start listening?