• In September 2011, the Oregon Court of Appeals invalidated a longstanding ban against concealed weapons on seven public college campuses.
http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/Publications/A142974.pdf
• In March 2012, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education approved a policy governing firearms that applies to students, employees, contractors, event attendees, and users of board-owned or -controlled property.
http://www.ous.edu/sites/default/files/state_board/polipro/OUS-Policy-on-Firearms.pdf
• In the fall of 2011, the Newberg School District revised its firearm policy to allow people with concealed handgun licenses to carry guns onto all school campuses, a result of strong-arm tactics from extremist gun-rights activists.
http://www.newberggraphic.com/news/2011/November/08/Front.Page/district.drops.gun.ban/news.aspx
• In 2007, 3,042 children and teens died as a result of gun violence in the United States and another 17,523 were injured.
http://www.childrensdefense.org/child-research-data-publications/data/protect-children-not-guns-2010-report.pdf
• In 2009, in Oregon, 413 people were killed by firearms.
http://www.dhs.state.or.us/dhs/ph/chs/data/vol2.shtml
• The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA)'s Board of Directors believes that “concealed carry” initiatives do not make campuses safer.
http://www.iaclea.org/visitors/PDFs/ConcealedWeaponsStatement_Aug2008.pdf
• Workplaces where guns were permitted were about 5 times as likely to experience a homicide as those where all weapons were prohibited.
According to: D. Loomis, S Marshall, and M. Ta, Employer Policies Toward Guns and the Risk of Homicide in the Workplace, American Journal of Public Health, May 2005.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449263/
• On May 1, 1999, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, said this at the NRA's annual meeting: "First, we believe in absolutely gun-free, zero-tolerance, totally safe schools. That means no guns in America's schools, period . . . with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel."
http://www.nrahq.org/transcripts/denver_wlp.asp
On March 1, 2012, a measure to restore the longstanding ban on guns at Oregon's public universities failed by two votes to pass the Oregon Senate.
The next day, an activist gun group sent out an "alert" calling on members to carry their "self defense tool" onto Oregon university property.
Our campaign is to restore public schools as safe zones where handguns are simply not permitted. The effort will bring together parents, educators, gun owners, and safety advocates.
For more information on how you can help prevent gun violence, please visit http://www.ceasefireoregon.org.
Together we will stop the abuse of childrens' right to learn in a weapon-free environment.