Lynn gun control forum hears all sides of issue

A panel of law enforcement and social service experts agreed that reducing gun violence is a complex problem that won’t be solved by any one solution, but that didn’t stop advocates and opponents of more gun controls from forcefully stating their positions at a forum over the weekend.The forum, held Saturday afternoon at Lynn Classical High School and sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Tierney and Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett, drew about 125 people, nearly 40 of whom addressed the panel to either ask questions or state their positions on gun control: for, against or somewhere in between.Blodgett, who backs a proposed federal law that would mandate gun ownership background check, said he was appalled when he learned that notorious South Boston gangster and former fugitive James “Whitey” Bulger was able to buy firearms at a Las Vegas gun show, no questions asked.”This is a discussion that has to be had,” Blodgett said, citing the public outcry from the shooting deaths of 26 students and faculty at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in December. “There are many ways to address this issue.”The discussion ran the gamut from putting armed security officers in each school to more school psychiatrists to specialized training for teachers and counselors on how to spot psychological problems. Congress is considering several possible gun violence reform laws. The White House is pushing universal background checks for gun buyers and a ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, all legislation Tierney has said he supports. The National Rifle Association, some Republicans, and many gun owners at Saturday’s forum, have opposed those measures, arguing it won’t help stop mass shootings and everyday gun violence in America.Both Blodgett and Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger, a member of the 11-person panel assembled by the district attorney and the congressman, said background checks would help police combat the phenomenon of “community guns.”A community gun was described as a weapon shared among criminals that’s owned by no one in particular and hidden in a spot that all the users know.While the discussion was largely civil, if frequently impassioned, things got testy at one point, when gun rights advocates loudly booed statistics on gun deaths cited by panelist Jon Rosenthal, a gun owner and founder of the non-profit Stop Handgun Violence, accusing him of using numbers and scare tactics to push too-restrictive gun-control agenda.The nearly two-hour forum consisted of the panelists talking for the first hour about what they see as effective ways of preventing gun violence. The second half was devoted to those who were each allowed about two minutes to make a point or ask a question of the panelists.Among the successful strategies cited:u Security resource officers in schools that form relationships with teachers, parents and students. Richard Cowdell, principal of Lynn’s Marshall Middle School, said he had every confidence that his school’s officer would know what to do in an emergency, but that’s secondary to the rapport the officer has built with the school community.”The relationship is key,” Cowdell said. “It’s very, very rare that we look at our (officer) as an armed security guard?He’s very professional, he’s constantly in the building, and the relationships built are very preventative.”u Training police and school staff on how to recognize mental illness. Dr. Robert Joss, a forensic psychiatrist in Salem, said that while placing a psychiatrist in every school would be “prohibitively expensive,” he did say that school staff such as teachers, administrators and guidance counselors can benefit from more training.u Collaborating with gun manufacturers to use technology to make guns usable only to those legally qualified. Tierney, the congressman, said identification technology has advanced to the point where it would be possible to make guns that won’t shoot unless the user is identifiab