Clinton Urges Efforts to Keep Guns From Kids

With the grieving mother of an Arkansas school shooting victim at his side Wednesday, President Clinton urged states and Congress to impose stiffer penalties against gun owners who fail to keep firearms away from children.

Suzann Wilson, mother of 11-year-old Britthney Varner, choked back tears as she recalled that tragic day when “my life was changed forever.” Britthney was among four girls and a teacher shot to death March 24 by two boys at Westside Middle School in Jonesboro, Ark.

Wilson said the schoolboys who opened fire that day had broken into the home of one boy’s grandfather and taken several rifles and more than 500 rounds of ammunition. They earlier had tried to get guns from a locked safe in one of their own homes.

“It was those guns and that ammunition that they had used to shoot the four children who died and injure the 10,” she said.

In an emotional plea, she urged that Americans everywhere learn from Jonesboro’s tragedy:

“To every gun owner in America, I want to say: Please, please, for the sake of the children, lock up your guns. Don’t let your children borrow the gun, or don’t let them steal the gun. Be responsible. Don’t let your gun become an instrument of murder.”

Clinton expressed his support for a bipartisan Senate proposal for legislation to hold adults criminally responsible if they allow children easy access to loaded firearms.