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Gunshot program to show trauma victims endure
Middle school will again experience the aftermath of gun-fueled violence.
BY TREBOR BANSTETTER, Palm Beach Post
Exactly four months after a 13-year-old student shot and killed teacher Barry Grunow, Lake Worth Middle School will again experience the aftermath of gun-fueled violence. But this time, the carnage will be after hours and on a screen -- in the form of grisly photos of gunshot victims -- with commentary by emergency room trauma surgeons.
The reward for those who attend: a free trigger lock. Palm Beach County and school district officials have chosen the school where student Nathaniel Brazill shot the popular teacher as the site for a gun safety seminar to be held Sept. 26, four months after Grunow's death. The seminar is intended to teach students and their families responsible gun ownership and the consequences of violence.
It's a lesson that some Lake Worth students have already learned.
``I think you need to be cautious about what the students at Lake Worth Middle School see,'' said Scott Poland, a psychologist who led teams after school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and Jonesboro, Ark. Last month, Poland led a seminar on school violence in Palm Beach.
``This tragedy is still going to be fresh in a lot of [students'] minds,'' he said Monday.
While expressing reservations about holding the program at Lake Worth Middle School, Poland praised the idea of gun education.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Warren Newell agreed. ``We need to get out the realistic information about shootings,'' he said.
``Sometimes the realism is lost through the movies and television, which glorify violence,'' said Newell, who heads Palm Beach County's Gun Safety Task Force, which organized the seminar.
The middle school session will kick off what county officials hope will be a traveling monthly gun safety class, open to anyone. The program is a group effort of the county, the school district, local hospitals and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
JFK Medical Center donated $2,500 for the gun locks. Instructors will teach the basics of safe gun ownership. But the centerpiece of the program is a slide show of graphic photos of gunshot wounds, narrated by an emergency room surgeon.
``It's the old `Scared Straight' thing,'' Newell said. ``There certainly is some shock value, and that's what we're trying to get.''
The seminar is part of Project CARGO -- Communities Addressing Responsible Gun Ownership -- which was introduced in 1998 in Broward.
Interim Palm Beach School Superintendent Ben Marlin said, ``Some would say this is the best place to do it, given the awareness in the community of this problem.''
The task force began planning the program before Brazill shot and killed Grunow on May 26, Newell said.
Guns have been a hot topic for Palm Beach County commissioners in recent weeks. They are in the process of approving a law that would require all gun owners to put trigger locks on their weapons in places where children are present. The final vote on that law is scheduled for Sept. 26.
Gunshot program to show trauma victims endure
Middle school will again experience the aftermath of gun-fueled violence.
BY TREBOR BANSTETTER, Palm Beach Post
Exactly four months after a 13-year-old student shot and killed teacher Barry Grunow, Lake Worth Middle School will again experience the aftermath of gun-fueled violence. But this time, the carnage will be after hours and on a screen -- in the form of grisly photos of gunshot victims -- with commentary by emergency room trauma surgeons.
The reward for those who attend: a free trigger lock. Palm Beach County and school district officials have chosen the school where student Nathaniel Brazill shot the popular teacher as the site for a gun safety seminar to be held Sept. 26, four months after Grunow's death. The seminar is intended to teach students and their families responsible gun ownership and the consequences of violence.
It's a lesson that some Lake Worth students have already learned.
``I think you need to be cautious about what the students at Lake Worth Middle School see,'' said Scott Poland, a psychologist who led teams after school shootings in Littleton, Colo., and Jonesboro, Ark. Last month, Poland led a seminar on school violence in Palm Beach.
``This tragedy is still going to be fresh in a lot of [students'] minds,'' he said Monday.
While expressing reservations about holding the program at Lake Worth Middle School, Poland praised the idea of gun education.
Palm Beach County Commissioner Warren Newell agreed. ``We need to get out the realistic information about shootings,'' he said.
``Sometimes the realism is lost through the movies and television, which glorify violence,'' said Newell, who heads Palm Beach County's Gun Safety Task Force, which organized the seminar.
The middle school session will kick off what county officials hope will be a traveling monthly gun safety class, open to anyone. The program is a group effort of the county, the school district, local hospitals and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
JFK Medical Center donated $2,500 for the gun locks. Instructors will teach the basics of safe gun ownership. But the centerpiece of the program is a slide show of graphic photos of gunshot wounds, narrated by an emergency room surgeon.
``It's the old `Scared Straight' thing,'' Newell said. ``There certainly is some shock value, and that's what we're trying to get.''
The seminar is part of Project CARGO -- Communities Addressing Responsible Gun Ownership -- which was introduced in 1998 in Broward.
Interim Palm Beach School Superintendent Ben Marlin said, ``Some would say this is the best place to do it, given the awareness in the community of this problem.''
The task force began planning the program before Brazill shot and killed Grunow on May 26, Newell said.
Guns have been a hot topic for Palm Beach County commissioners in recent weeks. They are in the process of approving a law that would require all gun owners to put trigger locks on their weapons in places where children are present. The final vote on that law is scheduled for Sept. 26.