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(Describer) Bridges stretch across the Williamette river and the seal of the City of Portland appears over a glowing marquee sign. As light rail trains and cars move through the city, studio cameras show a panel of kids sitting before a news anchor.

(Describer) COVID-19 signs encourage mask wearing and physical distancing, and a sign at a rally reads: 'We are stronger than hate.' A title appears in a dialogue bubble: 'Kids Speak Out. Brought to you by Oregon Harbor of Hope.' In the news studio:

(panelist) Me actually experiencing it, it's somewhat traumatizing. You may say it doesn't affect you, but it will in some type of way. Those aids are young, and maybe it's scary for them to hear about it, but it's better for them to maybe have a little fear, but be safe in the end than to have harm done. I would never feel safe just walking home alone from a high school or around a college campus just now because there's so much more threats out there.

(host) One of the earliest school shootings in America happened right here in Oregon. On May 21st, 1998, a 15-year-old freshman student opened fire on classmates, killing two of them and wounding 25 others. In recent years, we've all watched in horror as children scrambled from schools under gunfire, and later as parents and loved ones came running, some relieved, some facing their greatest fear. Welcome to "Kids Speak Out: Oregon," I'm Barbara Harrison. Those kids you heard at the beginning of this program are not actors. They're young Oregonians expressing their genuine heartfelt reaction to the issue of school gun violence. Just this year alone here in the United States, statistics show there have been at least 67 incidents of gunfire on school grounds, resulting in 23 deaths and 48 injuries nationally. It's a frightening situation and we want to get reaction from our "Kids Speak Out" panel today. Let's start with you. Tedi, would you introduce yourself? My name is Tedi Latu, and I'm 12 years old. Adelaide. My name is Adelaide Harrison, and I'm 12 years old. My name is Max, I'm 11 years old. My name is Skylar Borenaro, and I'm 18 years old. My name is Owen and I'm 11 years old. Owen, do you know Max over there? Yeah, I know Max, he's my-- Max is not only your brother, but he's your twin, right?

(Owen) He's my identical twin. Identical twin, well, we're gonna see if you have the identical answers to questions we ask you. Agamya. My name Agamya Getal, and I'm 15 years old. My name is Montral Brazil, and I'm 17 years old. We're so glad that you all are joining us today to help shed some light on some of the things that we've seen happening since the pandemic, but before the pandemic as well. And in fact, we are talking about guns and gun violence today, and I'm happy that you're joining us to shed some light on what you feel about it. Today's panel is gonna be talking about that violence I just mentioned and its impact on kids across our country. We've seen some pretty horrible things happening as kids have had to run from schools under fire, parents waiting for their kids. And what do you think about that, Montral?

(Montral) Me actually experiencing it, it's somewhat traumatizing. You may say it doesn't affect you, but it will in some type of way. You've experienced it yourself personally? Yeah, our school, we've had two school shootings this year. We've had two of 'em, and it affects a lot more kids than others. But like I said, with it affecting you, it can be little, it can be big. -Well, I can imagine. -Yeah. -If you were in school-- -Just, just... It'll make you more aware of your surroundings, for sure. You'll want to keep your head on a swivel and just make sure you're always in a safe place and that's the effect to you. Well, that's a lot to have to think about when you're at school. Do you agree, Agamya-- "Am I in a safe place?" when you think school's always supposed to be a safe place?

(Agamya) Yeah, that's a terrifying thought. I've personally never been through that, and I can't imagine what that must feel like, but just even picturing, that is truly terrifying. Somewhere like school, a place that should be safe, and a place you should go to learn and be with your friends and have a good time, to feel like there you might be unsafe and might get hurt, that's not something that I think anyone would want to feel. Owen, you have anything you want to say about that?

(Owen) Yes, so one time at my school, we were playing kickball and there was a man walking by and I guess this total trying to have a full black outfit kind of. He had basically not a ski mask, but something was covering up most of his face and--

(Barbara) It was scary? Yeah, he was just taking photos and everybody was worried that something was gonna happen, and none of the teachers saw, and for the rest of the whole week I guess. I want to ask Skylar, do you think people are more on edge, kids are more on edge now because of some of the things that we've seen happen?

(Skylar) Yeah, definitely, I think so. I think that like five years ago or more before school shootings were like, I'd say now there's more happening, and now it's just like creates a lot of tension just being on edge. I'm a senior in high school, and I've seen a lot of school shootings happen in high school all throughout the world so it puts me a lot on edge. But even going into college, there's still a lot of shootings happening in college and just stabbings and just horrible things, and it's just really something you have to be aware about. I know that I would never feel safe just walking home alone from a high school or around a college campus just now because there's so much more threats out there. Absolutely, and for you Max, have you felt any of this pressure to get yourself to a safe place and not be out there where people can hurt you?

(Max) When we were on spring break, I heard of the shooting in Nashville, and I actually have a friend who just came here this year. He was from Nashville, and he actually had friends who were shot, so. Wow, but nothing has happened -to you or anything... -No. that you've seen like your brother saw? Adelaide?

(Adelaide) I mean it's so, so awful. I will be in class and I'll hear some popping noise or something that might sound like a gunshot, and it's just so scary. And we have active shooter drills and stuff where we have to hide in a corner and lock the doors and stuff, and it's really awful and really, really sad that we have to do that as kids. Teddi, have you had any experience like that? Any active shooter drills at your school?

(Tedi) Well, as Montral said, I've experienced it. I was over at the high school for a basketball game and someone had just brought a gun into there, or people were shooting out in the parking lot and everybody had to evacuate out of the high school. And my brother goes to the same high school as Montral, and there's been a lot of shootings over there.

(Barbara) Wow, that is something to have to deal with. -(Montral) And like he said-- -(Owen) Um... One second, I'll come right back to you, Owen. Yeah.

(Montral) Being hard, it makes you think more. Like, I don't-- When I drive--I have a license and I'm a driver-- I don't tend to sit at red lights anymore. I will make it to where I'm able to turn right or make it to where I can get outta there. I don't like sitting at lights anymore just because of the things that have happened. I don't feel comfortable sitting at just the stop sign where a car can pull up and possibly decide they want to do harm to me or people around us, just it's hard. Like I said, it makes you think a lot more.

(Agamya) Kids have enough to worry about with school and their own personal lives, and to have another thing that they have to be worried about constantly wherever they are, that's terrifying. And it's awful that people have to go through that now.

(Barbara) Well, it makes you understand the mental health issues that we hear from the American Psychology Association that the kids are experiencing. Max, did you want to say something?

(Max) Yeah, so I feel like a lot of it is if you are, say you're in a school-- This has never actually happened to me-- Say you're in a school and somebody comes in with a gun. The first thing you're obviously gonna do is try to get outta the building.

(Barbara) Well, sure that's right. But if you're on the upstairs of a building, for example-- my school is a stairs here and a stairs here. Like...

(Barbara) You have to worry about a lot of things, don't you, when you've got that in your head?

(Max) You can see both stairs from when you walk in. Yeah. You gotta keep in mind that something can happen, and yet we don't want kids, do we, Skylar, -to be worried all the time? -No. That somebody's gonna walk into the school room and shoot.

(Skylar) It creates just a lot of extra stress. School should be a place that when you go, you're worried about tests and you're worried about maybe stuff with your friends, but it should not be a place where you're worried about violence happening and where you could be harmed or your friends could be harmed. And in school you form such close communities that if a shooting does happen, you're worried about yourself but you're also worried about some of your closest friends and people you care about the most. What do your parents say, Adelaide?

(Adelaide) I mean, my parents they trust that the school district and stuff is safe, but it's scary for I'm sure any parent just to have to be and live in a country where there's a possibility that your child could get shot at school. I'm sure that that just could be incredibly nerve wracking and just something that you shouldn't have to go through at all.

(Barbara) Well, I think that you all have seen a lot on television, a lot happening as kids as we mentioned earlier, running from school and parents sitting there, waiting and praying. And what about you, Tedi? Are you scared? Do you get scared about going to school?

(Tedi) Well, not just going to school, but I feel like doing all these drills about evacuating or trying to hide in your classroom, I feel like people shouldn't have to just do that just to feel safe in their own school.

(Montral) Me, now being 17 years old, I know how to prevent it. Like crossing the street, I don't let anybody get close to me really. But like I said, you never know what you're gonna do. You can talk about it all you want, but you need to be in the situation for yourself to know what you're gonna do. You can freeze up in the moment. You could pass out on the moment. You can run. There's so many different things you can do in a moment that scares you, frightens you, or whatever it may be.

(Barbara) I think it's really hard for us to make decisions about who we're gonna be scared of these days because people have prejudices that get in the way and they think somebody is gonna be coming after them. And that's not the person, it's somebody else who's out. I mean, if we can see from the active shooter of stories that we've done that there are often people that you would never have expected to do anything. Would you want to say something, Adelaide?

(Adelaide) Yes, I mean in terms of preventing it, I think there's a lot of situations where the active shooter was a student at that school or possibly a parent or something. This ties into mental health. I think we really need to be looking for these signs and not ignoring them. If someone is talking about shooting up a school in any way, we should be looking into that and seeing, because there's lots of kids who will just take their parents' gun that they have at home or whatever and use it to seriously harm people.

(Montral) May I please add on to that? Sorry. We're gonna take a break and we're gonna come back and continue this discussion. I think you guys have some great ideas, wonderful observations. We'll get back to you, Owen, in just a little bit. We'll talk to you in a minute. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

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(Describer) Owen gives a thumbs up and a wave.

(Barbara) We're talking about active shooters. We've seen a lot of that lately, and you had an interesting idea. I mean, how are we supposed to look and tell what somebody is gonna do? We don't know, and I think it makes it hard for us to make judgements about people.

(Montral) Just taking precautions. Of course, you don't want to be judgmental, but also you want to be safe at the same time. You're not gonna put yourself in danger because you feel as if it's wrong. If I feel like I have a potential, like, if I feel like I could possibly be hurt, I'm not gonna let it happen. I will cross the street no matter. It's not a bad thing towards you if I feel like you look dangerous maybe, it's just my precaution. There's nothing against you. It's just my fear.

(Skylar) I agree with that. I think that almost anxiety is it's not the best thing to have 'cause it can cause a lot of add on stress, but sometimes when you have anxiety, it can help you so that you might just feel stressed that someone might just be stressing you out and you might be nervous about them, and it could cause you to, like you said, cross the street early or I think earlier when you said at a stoplight, just to go. Sometimes that anxiety almost works in your benefit in these situations, which it's really rough that anxiety is benefiting us. But it's kind of gotten to the point where you have to be so extra cautious. Very, very careful. Does that change your life? Does it change your life having to be careful and scared?

(Tedi) Yeah, but to add on with what Adelaide said, it could be the person that's shooting could be the one that goes to school. I feel like if schools had more after school activities, it could kind of prevent it 'cause some of the kids that are shooting it, they might be lonely or they must be, I don't know, they must not like people. But if you have after school activities, you can prevent that so that they can socialize or have a reason to not do it. But I don't--yeah.

(Montral) To go off or what--

(Barbara) Did you want to say something, Adelaide?

(Adelaide) Sure, I mean I think just, I think for your question or comment or whatever, I think it's a really tricky thing 'cause it's a fine line, right? Would you rather do active shooter drills and stuff and have kids be prepared and have whatever more possibility of them surviving in the act that there might be a school shooter? Or do we have kids not have that as much, but also have less anxiety and stress and being so, so young? Because they're doing it in elementary schools and stuff. And it is needed, but it's also, you gotta think what's the risk compared to just living with that being so young. What about living with that? Do you have bad dreams, Max? Do you think about what could happen in school or?

(Max) I mean, I've definitely thought about it. I don't think I-- I've never had a bad dream about it. I've definitely thought about what would happen. But I feel like my school is safe so I don't feel worried. Skylar, how about you? Do you feel like has it changed your life in any way what we've seen on television? Do you feel like you don't want to even go out? Yeah, I definitely think that it has added some extra nerves into my life. Luckily, I do feel pretty safe in my school, but you never really know the person who could do it. The signs are so hidden and can be so suppressed, and it could take one moment for someone to just almost snap and do something like shooting at a school, and it's just horrible. And even for kids who are in elementary school, we've seen nationwide that there have been instances where kids in elementary schools have been harmed too. And it's so sad to think that someone so young is having to go through that. So I think that's just showing that you really never know what could happen. And you don't know who to be afraid of. There was a story in Virginia recently, a six-year-old with a gun in school. Do you blame the whole situation on guns being too available or is that not the problem?

(Montral) In that situation, I probably put that on the parents. It shouldn't be that. As a six-year-old, I know he didn't walk into a gun store and buy it. He got that from his house. So parents, you guys have to do better. And with the gun safe-- there are kids who get taught young how to use it, so that can either help prevent it or just keeping it away from them. A six-year-old should never be able to do that -because obviously it was wrong -(all) Yep, yeah. when you're thinking about that.

(Agamya) There definitely should just be a lot more importance on if you have a gun, just thinking about your family, the people around you, who has access to it, and kids with guns at their houses being taught really how to use it. The things that they could do, you never know. A little kid, they're still developing, they're still learning. And so having that potential to do harm on someone, and they don't even know. They're probably not thinking about what could actually happen, but because they have access to it, terrible things could happen and it's not really their fault, it's more their environment. What do you think? Should a six-year-old be able to have a gun?

(Max) No, I think part of it is not the six-year-old, but the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, any adult can own a gun, which at the time was understandable. We were at war with the British Army, and at the time, a gun could shoot once, take some two minutes to reload. You're not going to be killing ten people. It's also so bulky and big, you can't bring it to a school. Well, a semi-automatic especially would be really ridiculous to have sitting around the house where a six-year-old could get it, but I think that this was a small firearm that he used-- Something like a pistol. -To shoot his teacher, yeah. -Like a pistol. Adelaide, do you have any feelings about this?

(Adelaide) Mentioning the Second Amendment, I think that's an argument a lot of people bring up. The Constitution and stuff and they say "Whoa, well, what about the Second Amendment?" I think that we should be able to discuss that. We should be able to talk that. I don't think that every American should have the right to own a gun because there are many Americans who have pasts of violence, domestic abuse and just violent outbursts and also having mental health issues and things like that. I mean, it might not be their fault always, but it shouldn't be like a right. I think there needs to be a lot more laws and regulations and things like that. Because I mean if a kid, if a six-year-old can get it, then obviously the parents aren't keeping their guns safe enough. And I just think that's something we need to do. And does all this lead to depression in teens and kids, do you think Teddi? That kids having to think about these kinds of things at this age. Well, we're still kids. We're still developing a mindset of what we want to do but it's like, especially with a six-year-old, he's only six, he doesn't even know, he barely couldn't even read.

(Barbara) It's true. So I don't think, why would he want to do it? I don't know, it's just like--

(Barbara) Well, there was some story that he was mad at his teacher, but he shouldn't have had a gun in his hand. -Yeah. -Yeah.

(Skylar) I think that with what you were saying about it leading to depression in teens, I think it can really add to that because I think one, it can create so much fear and so much anxiety, and that could really harm a teenager's mental health. But also someone who's experienced it could be so scared to go back to school. And they may not want to go back to school. They may resort to an online option because of their fear and online could not end up being right for them, and it could really cause them to feel isolated. But then also someone who is in a shooting situation could have PTSD from it, and that could also really hurt their mental health and just harm them overall.

(Montral) I feel like that's what it is for me, it's the PTSD. Even taking out the garbage cans, that's usually at nighttime for me, getting back home from a practice maybe or school. Taking those garbage cans out, when I see cars coming down the street, I usually just go back in the backyard 'til it passes by now, all because of the school shootings that I've had. Not even being out there though, I was in the weight room, we were getting ready for practice and you just hear like ten shots. So I have no visual of what happened. I have just the audio in my head. So just that, that's enough for me to take all the precautions that I'm doing. Going back to touch on what Addie said, I think the fire drills, lockdown drills, I've been somebody who's played around, not played around too much, but of course joked about it. Those need to be taken more seriously. That's the precaution, take those more seriously. Adults that work at the school need to have something set. In order to-- We should know what to do when this happens. Of course, it's hard, but we should have some idea. You think some kids joke about getting a gun and shooting someone?

(Montral) Sorry, when I say "joke," just about the drills. If you're having a lockdown drill, you're not taking that seriously. There's nobody outside your school so you're on your phone. These... When I say playing around, just talking during the drills, maybe not really listening, just walking out for the fire drill or just sitting in the corner for the lockdown drill, those should be taken more seriously.

(Agamya) Yeah, I agree, but like you said, Barbara, yeah, I think that people do joke about it sometimes because people don't understand if you've never experienced it or you've never had it be close to you, it doesn't seem like a real thing to you. It's something that's like fiction almost. It's like, "No, that would never happen to me. Maybe it happened in another state, but not to me." And so there definitely needs to be more action taken by schools to prepare kids 'cause even if it is elementary schools who are dealing with this stuff, those kids are young and maybe it's scary for them to hear about it, but it's better for them to maybe have a little fear. Better be safe in the end than to have harm done. Do you think that our schools should be locked down? Should we have police officers at every door? What do you think? Is there anything? I think Max wants to speak to that.

(Max) Yeah, there is. For a little while, we had a guard with a gun in our parking lot because there were people taking parts off cars. I saw a person with a loaded gun coming up to the parking lot and taking parts off cars and then just leaving. Oh, stealing parts off cars? Yeah, and just leaving, so we actually had to hire security guard. And it's like nobody in our school can do anything 'cause that guy has like a loaded gun. But what about putting bars on the school room windows and you have to go through a metal detector to get into your classroom? Would you think you should consider something like that metal schools in this country?

(Montral) A metal detector would be helpful. And at first I said in my head I was thinking, "No, no police officers." But in the Portland area, we do need those in every school right now.

(all) I agree. I feel like...

(Owen) Sometimes, it's not only in schools, if it happens somewhere else. -That's true. -Not outside of school, like in a grocery store say, the police can't be everywhere at once, and they can't always get there in time. And there's times when they do, but there's times when they just can't. Skylar, you had something you wanted to add to that.

(Skylar) I know that at my school, we do have a officer. And he's not a huge presence, but he is there just in case anything does happen. And I think that in Portland, like you were saying, it is a smart thing to have just because there is a worry of a school shooting, but there's also just a lot of extra violence externally that could come into the school. And so I think it is good to have a police officer, maybe not one at every single door, but just one who's ready to jump into action if anything does go wrong. Yeah, well, we worry about copycats and sometimes we think that when one of these shootings happen that we may see another one because somebody wants to be on the news.

(Montral) We touched on gun access. People don't really know, and I found out a couple months ago, when these shootings happen, police aren't encouraging it, but they're saying maybe consider getting a firearm to protect your family. 'Cause right now, that is also needed I feel like... In my opinion, I wouldn't speak for anybody else, but in my opinion getting that. So you think that...

(Montral) Yeah, we had one shooting in my 17 years of life on our block, and the police officer told my dad, "Get a concealed weapons permit." My dad has taken gun classes and taken things. He took me to the range one time, and I feel like that's needed with an older kid. Thanks, Montral, for sharing that very personal experience, and thanks to all of our panelists for joining us for this conversation today. It's a very alarming situation for all of us. Hearing the kids' perspective, we get some real understanding of what it's like to be a young student with the fears and anxieties they face, just walking into a classroom.

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(Describer) Owen gives a peace sign as Barbara chats with the panelists. The title appears in a dialogue bubble.

And coming up next on "Kids Speak Out Oregon," a look at the youth mental health crisis, and get our young panelists to tell us what they are worried about.

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(Describer) Text appears: 'This has been a Koin-6 special presentation of Kids Speak Out: Oregon. Brought to you by W. Glen Boyd Charitable Foundation, Oregon Harbor of Hope, and Barbara Harrison Media.'

Accessibility provided by the U.S. Department of Education.

(Describer) This week's panel: Skylar, Max, Owen, Agamya, Tedi, Adelaide, and Montral. Special thanks to Strategic Print and Promotions LLC, Beyond Well Media, and Hopscotch Foundation. Nexstar Media Group 2023.' Accessibility provided by the US Department of Education.

Watch "Kids Speak Out," the show where kids across the northwest come together to talk about the issues and challenges facing them today. I'm Barbara Harrison, join me as kids speak out on social media, gun violence, discrimination and much more. Life has changed for kids, and we want to hear what they have to say about that. Watch "Kids Speak Out," a Koin 6 special presentation, sponsored by Oregon Harbor of Hope, Thursday nights at 7:00 PM on Koin 6.

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