Tough Penalties for Guns in Schools

New York Gov. George Pataki set tougher penalties for students ages 14 and 15 who take loaded guns to school. Pataki signed into law a measure that allows gun-wielding students as young as 14 and 15 to be prosecuted as adults in criminal court rather than as juveniles in family courts. Instead of being placed in a youth lockup for no more than 18 months, violators could get a maximum four-year sentence if found with a loaded firearm on school grounds or up to seven years if prosecutors can show they intended to use the weapon. Pataki signed the legislation during a visit to a high school in the Rochester suburb of Irondequoit, where a visiting 15-year-old student fired a gun he brought to a dance in January. Nobody was injured.