Education secretary gets emotional about gun violence

Education secretary gets emotional about gun violence

PBSNewsHour

?"This is something that I'?ve battled with and tried to understand from the time I was a little boy," Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told PBS' Gwen Ifill. "And I think it?s time we do something about it."? 

Education Secretary Arne Duncan nearly broke down as he discussed the impact of gun violence on his own life during an interview about making the nation's children safer in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre. 

Duncan was the superintendent of Chicago?'s public schools before he was appointed by President Obama to lead the Department of Education. He was interviewed by PBS? NewsHour shortly after attending funeral services for Dawn Hochsprung, the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal who was killed trying to save the children in her care. 

"?Gun violence has haunted me my entire life,"? he said as his voice began to break. "?I?'m sorry if I get a little bit emotional, but growing up as a part of my mother?'s inner-city student program, I had a lot of mentors, good friends I grew up with, shot dead when I was growing up.?"

After listing some of their names, he grew more emotional still as he then recalled attending the funerals of children killed by guns while serving as the Chicago superintendent.

During his tenure in Chicago, he said, a child was killed due to gun violence every two weeks, including one who was killed by an AK-47 in her living room as she was getting ready to go to school and another who was killed on the bus coming home. 

"?Policy?'s a part of (the answer), but (the question) is 'What do we value?' And what I value is seeing far fewer children killed,"? he said. "?What I value is having children be confident they can grow up.?"

He said he kept a picture of a fireman drawn by a little boy in his Chicago office. 

?If I grow up, I want to be a fireman,? he said the boy wrote on the picture. 

"?So this is not a new problem,?" he said. ?"This is something that I'?ve battled with and tried to understand from the time I was a little boy. And I think it?s time we do something about it."? 

In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, Duncan said, it is ?not a time to point fingers or lay blame.? But he was sharply dismissive of who say that arming teachers and other school staff would help prevent more mass shootings. 

"?We can'?t fight evil with evil,"? he said. ?"We need less guns, not more.?" 

?"That to me would be the ultimate giving in to an evil,"? he said. ?"Very, very few teachers and principals are asking for more guns in schools --? they?'re asking for less.?"