Mark Kirk: “I thank the gentleman. Columbine High School, Colorado. East High School, Green Bay. Hubbard Wood School in Winnetka.…”

“I thank the gentleman. Columbine High School, Colorado. East High School, Green Bay. Hubbard Wood School in Winnetka. Each of these schools bore witness to an attack or an attempted attack using a gun in school. I served as a teacher, and I remember the kids who were the brightest lights of our country's future, and I also remember those who bore scrutiny as people who might bring a gun to class. Americans have the right to send their kids to safe, gun-free classrooms. Just last week, alert school officials foiled a Columbine-style attack on a Green Bay school. In my district, we were not so lucky in Winnetka. There, an attacker shot and killed a child and wounded five others in class. Jeffrey Phillips of my own staff was a first grader in that school on that day. I spoke with a number of fellow teachers who say they hesitate before searching a child. Dan Larsen and Andrew Conneen, teachers at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, told me that teachers many times hesitate before searching a book bag for a gun. They worry about being punished; they worried about being sued. This bill reassures teachers that they have the power to search any minor child to make sure that their classroom remains gun free. And the Nation's largest teachers union, the National Education Association, strongly endorsed this bill. Like all other American workers, teachers deserve to work in a safe, drug-free, and gun-free workplace.…”