Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, I understand why you're concerned about it. We've had all these terrible incidents of school…”

“Well, first of all, I understand why you're concerned about it. We've had all these terrible incidents of school shootings. But I think you should know that, on balance, we have the lowest murder rate in our country in 31 years and that schools are the safest places kids can be. Now what we have to do to ensure that all our schools are safe, are, number one, have a strict, zero tolerance for weapons in schools. I've announced a zero tolerance for guns policy several years ago out in California. We're trying to get every school to adopt it. We had several thousand young people who were sent home last year and expelled because they brought guns to school. Number two, we need a system in every school that identifies kids who are troubled, who might cause trouble and get some help before they commit violent acts, whether they're being reported to the authorities, part of a peer mediation group, getting mental health or other counseling. I think you have to have a system in which all the kids are involved in trying to identify people who might be disturbed and might cause these kinds of problems. And I think, number three, we have to try to make sure that the schools that are in high-crime areas, that there is adequate security there. So there are lots of things that can be done, but on balance, you should not believe that you're in more trouble at school than you are someplace else, because for almost all of our children, they're safer at school than they would be on their streets or in their neighborhood. [The discussion continued.]”