Student-Led Gun Violence Forum Held in Exeter

EXETER, NH - A student-led forum on gun violence attracted dozens of New Hampshire residents and officials to Exeter Town Hall on Friday. According to Seacoastonline, the “Student Forum on Gun Violence” covered the many ways that gun violence impacts children and families: in schools, public spaces, in domestic violence situations, in police encounters, and in suicides.

Students from Exeter High School, Cooperative Middle School, and Phillips Exeter Academy co-hosted the discussion, which was moderated by Dr. Courtney Marshall, an instructor in English at Phillips Exeter. Elected officials on the panel included Rep. Debra Altschiller, Executive Councilor Chris Pappas, Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, Rep. Pat Abrami, Rep. Richard Gordon, and Rep. Ellen Read.

According to Seacoastonline, local Democrats and Republicans offered differing strategies on how to fix the gun violence issue, eliciting very different reactions from the crowd.

“What we had to listen to on the floor of the Senate three weeks ago was very intense speeches from the Republicans about how the way to address this problem was to arm teachers in all of our schools across the state,” Fuller Clark (D-Portsmouth) said. “It was incredibly demoralizing. But what it did for me was I realized the only way we’re really going to solve this problem is to get rid of assault weapons.”

Rep. Pat Abrami (R-Stratham) and Rep. Gordon (R-East Kingston) were the only Republican officials to sit in on the panel.

Gordon received an unfavorable crowd response for pointing to “the breakdown of the family and the gaming industry.” Abrami said he felt the discussion was missing “one big thing:” mental and behavioral health. He noted the offenders in most mass shootings fit a similar profile, and showed warning signs beforehand.

You can read the full story at Seacoastonline here.