Students pledge against gun violence

CONWAY - Sixth grade students at Forestbrook Middle School sign the Student Pledge Against Gun Violence on Tuesday. The U.S. Attorney's office helped local law enforcement agencies distribute the pledge to most of the middle and high schools across the South Carolina.

By: SCNow Staff | SCNow
Published: October 19, 2011
Updated: October 19, 2011 - 12:38 PM

FLORENCE, SC --

Members of the U. S. Attorney’s Office and their law enforcement partners met with students across South Carolina on Wednesday as part of as part of South Carolina’s 10^th annual Student Pledge Against Gun Violence.

Middle and high school students signed a voluntary pledge promising that they will never take a gun to school, will never resolve a dispute with a gun, and will use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to resolve disputes. Elementary school children made a simpler commitment, pledging that if they see a gun they will not touch it, they will assume that any gun they see might be loaded, and they will tell a teacher or a trusted adult.

"We want to get the message out there: if (students) see a weapon, or they hear information of a student carrying a weapon or a firearm, to let a school officer know," said Paul Spadaro, assistant principal at Forestbrook Middle School near Myrtle Beach.

The Bennettsville, Coward, Darlington, Dillon, Florence and Mullins police departments and Chesterfield County and Florence County sheriff’s offices participated, as are students from Marlboro County High in Bennettsville; Cheraw High and Cheraw Intermediate in Cheraw; Chesterfield Ruby Middle in Chesterfield; J.C. Lynch Elementary in Coward; Brockington Elementary Magnet, Darlington High, Darlington Middle and Pate Elementary in Darlington; East Elementary in Dillon; Dewey L. Carter Elementary in Effingham; Hartsville High in Hartsville; Henry Timrod Elementary, Moore Intermediate, Sneed Middle, South Florence High, Southside Middle, West Florence High, Williams Middle and Wilson High in Florence; Johnsonville Elementary in Johnsonville; Main Street Elementary in Lake City; Petersburg Primary School in Pageland; D.P. Cooper Elementary in Salters; and Scranton Elementary in Scranton.

The effort is part of South Carolina’s Project CeaseFire, which is South Carolina’s implementation of the department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods program, which is aimed at reducing gun violence. The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence is a national program that recognizes the role that young people, through their own decisions, can play in reducing gun violence.

For more information, visit the national Student Pledge web site at www.pledge.org.