Off the Set of "Hardball" with California Senator Dianne Feinstein

by Rachel Stockman

TEENSPEAK: What is the best way to stop teen violence in schools?

Feinstein: First of all, it should be absolutely impossible for any teen to bring a gun to school. To that end, four years ago, Senator Dorrigan and I co-sponsored legislation which is now a law called, 'Zero Tolerance for Guns in School'. Every year throughout the nation, about 6,000 youngsters are expelled because they bring a gun to school. That's what government can do. The next part of the job has to do with parents and those who have a responsibility for young people to make sure that they are not bringing guns into school. If they have problems, then those problems have to be met with positive advice, counseling, discipline, and love. I believe that very strongly. We have become an anything goes society. Parents don't put as much time into parenting, children are often in pre-school care. When I grew up there was no such thing as a latch-key child. The impact of peer culture, of your friends on you, is much greater today than it was when I was a youngster, and violence in our culture is much greater.

TEENSPEAK: Do you think that teenagers have changed or have the media institutions cultivated this change?

Feinstein: I think authority has changed. There is much less family life today that is meaningful than there used to be. To be very candid, law and government and politicians can do certain things, but the great bulk of the things that need to be done, has to be done by parents. Parents staying together, parents raising children right, creating a family milieu that has power for the youngster, instead of the youngster desperately wanting to get out of the house to go be with their friends.