Over 63,000 South Carolina Students Pledge Against Gun Violence

COLUMBIA—United States Attorney Bill Nettles said that by close of business Friday of this week, members of the U.S. Attorney's Office and their law enforcement partners will have met with 63,000 students from 131 schools across the state as part of the ninth annual Student Pledge Against Gun Violence. Middle and high school students are signing a voluntary pledge promising that they will never take a gun to school, will never resolve a dispute with a gun, and will use their influence to prevent friends from using guns to resolve disputes. Elementary school children are making a simpler commitment, pledging that if they see a gun they will not touch it, they will assume that any gun they see might be loaded, and they will tell a teacher or a trusted adult.

The effort is part of South Carolina’s Project Cease Fire and the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, both federal programs aimed at reducing gun violence. The Student Pledge Against Gun Violence is a national program honoring the role that young people, through their own decisions, can play in reducing gun violence. This campaign against youth gun violence culminated on Wednesday, October 27, 2010, in a Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence. The program provides a means for beginning the conversation with young people about gun violence. Students from around the country join together in pledging to do their part to end gun violence.

“The response to the pledge campaign this year has been tremendous, perhaps in part due to the renewed awareness of the threat of school violence after a high school student in Conway shot at a Student Resource Officer just last month,” said Mr. Nettles. “Over 63,000 students from 131 schools across the state agreed to take part in this year’s pledge.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office worked with law enforcement agencies throughout the state to make the pledges available to the schools. In addition to providing the pledges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office coordinated with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to provide speakers to go out to schools across South Carolina and talk to students about what they could do to reduce gun violence.

The following South Carolina schools and law enforcement agencies participated in this year’s pledge. For additional information concerning the national pledge, visit the National Student Pledge website at www.pledge.org.

Participating Law Enforcement Agencies

Anderson County Sheriff's Office

Anderson Police Department

Barnwell County Sheriff's Office

Beaufort County Police Department

Beaufort County Sheriff's Department

Bennettsville Police Department

Blacksburg Police Department

Bluffton Police Department

Calhoun County Sheriff’s Department

Charleston County/North Charleston

Charleston Police Department

Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office

Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office

Chester County Sheriff’s Department

Columbia Police Department

Conway City Police

Coward Police Department

Darlington County Sheriff’s Office

Darlington Police Department

Denmark-Olar Police Department

Dorchester County Sheriff's Department

Easley Police Department

Fairfield County Sheriff Department

Gaffney Police Department

Great Falls Police Department

Greenville County Sheriff's Office

Greenwood Police Department

Greer Police Department

Hampton County Sheriff Department

Hartsville Police Department

Hemingway Police Department

Lake City Police Department

Laurens City Police Department

Laurens County Sheriff’s Department

Lee County Sheriff's Department

Lexington County Sheriff's Department

Marion Police Department

Marion Sheriff’s Office

Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office

Mount Pleasant Police Department

Mullins Police Department

Myrtle Beach Police Department

Newberry Sheriff’s Office

North Charleston Police Department

Oconee County Sheriff’s Office

Pagland Police Department

Pickens Police Department

Richland County Sheriff's Department

Ridgeville Police Department

Society Hill Police Department

South Carolina State University Police Department

Spartanburg Public Safety Department

Summerville Police Department

Sumter County Sheriff's Office

Sumter Police Department

Union Department of Public Safety

Williamsburg County Sheriff

Woodruff Police Department

York County Sheriff's Department

Participating Schools

A.R. Lewis Elementary School, Pickens

Alcorn Middle School, Columbia

Alice Drive Middle School, Sumter

Anderson Cunty Alternative School, Anderson

Andrews Elementary School, Andrews

Annie Burnside Elementary, Columbia

Arden Elementary School, Columbia

B.D. Lee Elementary School, Gaffney

Barnwell Primary School, Barnwell

Batesburg-Leesville Elementary, Batesburg-Leesville

Batesburg-Leesville High School, Batesburg-Leesville

Beech Hill Elementary, Summerville

Bell Street Middle School, Clinton

Bennettsville Middle School, Bennettsville

Blacksburg Middle School, Blacksburg

Bluffton Elementary School, Bluffton

Bluffton High School, Bluffton

Bluffton Middle School, Bluffton

Bridge Creek Elementary, Elgin

Britton’s Neck Elementary School, Gresham

Brookland-Cayce High School

Burgess Elementary School

Burke Middle School

Burnside Elementary School

C.A. Johnson High School, Columbia

Calhun County High School, St. Matthews

Carver Junior High, Spartanburg

Castle Heights Middle School, Rock Hill

Caughman Road

Elementary, Columbia

Chapman Elementary School, Spartanburg

Chester Park Elementary Center of Literacy Through Technology, Chester

Clay Hill Middle School, Ridgeville

Cleveland Elementary, Spartanburg

Clover Middle School, Clover

Darlington High School , Darlington

Davis Elementary School for Technology, Cayce

Denmark-Olar Elementary, Denmark

Donaldson Career Center, Greenville

Dreher High School, Columbia

East Clarendon High School, Turbeville

East Cooper Montessori Charter School, Mt. Pleasant

East Elementary School, Dillion

Eau Claire High School, Columbia

Edith L. Frierson Elementary, Wadmalaw Island

Estill High School, Estill

Ewing Middle School, Gaffney

Felton Labortory School, Orangeburg

Flowertown Elementary, Summerville

Forest Heights Elementary, Columbia

Forest Park Elementary, Union

Geiger Elementary, Ridgeway

Gibbes Middle School, Columbia

Great Falls Elementary, Shironda Brown

Greendale Elementary, New Ellenton

Greer Middle School, Greer

Grove Elementary, Greenville

H.B. Rhame, Jr. Elementary School, Columbia

H.E. McCracken Middle School, Bluffton

Hand Middle School, Columbia

Hemingway High School, Hemingway

Honea Path Middle School, Honea Path

Hopkins Middle School, Hopkins

Horry CountyEarly College High School, Conway

Hyatt Park Elementary School, Columbia

J. C. Lynch Elementary School, Coward

John E. Ewing Middle School, Gaffney

Johnakin Middle School, Marion

Kelly Miller Elementary School, Winnsboro

Ladson Elementary School, Ladson

Lady’s Island Middle School, Beauford

Lakewood High School, Sumter

Laurens High School, Laurens

Laurens Middle School, Laurens

Lewisville Middle School, Richburg

Limestone Central Elementary School, Gaffney

Logan Elementary School, Columbia

Lower Lee Elementary School, Mayesville

Luther Vaughan Elementary School, Gaffney

M.C. Riley Elementary, Bluffton

Macedonia Elementary, Blackville

Macedonia Middle, Moncks Corner

Malcolm C. Hursey Elementary School, North Charleston

Manchester Elementary School, Pinewood

Mary Ford Elementary, North Charleston

Mary H. Wright Elementary, Spartanburg

Mathews Elementary School, Greenwood

McCants Middle, Anderson

McKissick Elementary School, Easley

Mitchell Elementary School, Charleston

Mullins High School, Mullins

Myrtle Beach High School, Myrtle Beach

Myrtle Beach Middle, Myrtle Beach

Newberry Elementary School, Newberry

Newington Elementary, Summerville

North Aiken Elementary, Aiken

North Myrtle Beach Primary School, N. Myrtle Beach

Northside Elementary School, Seneca

Northwest Elementary School, Gaffney

Oakwood-Windsor Elementary, Aiken

Park Hills Elementary, Spartanburg

Pate Elementary School, Darlington

Petersburg Primary School, Pageland

Pine Ridge Elementary, W. Columbia

Piney Grove Elementary, Columbia

Plainview Elementary School, Patrick

Pocalla Springs Elementary School, Sumter

Pritchardville Elementary, Bluffton

Red Cedar Elementary, Bluffton

Riverside Middle School, Pendleton

Robert Smalls Middle School, Burton

Rosenwald Elementary/Middle School, Society

Sandel Elementary, Columbia

Scranton Elementary School, Scranton

Southside Middle School, Florence

Southwood Middle, Anderson

Spartanburg Charter School, Spartanburg

Spartanburg High School, Spartanburg

St. Mark Elementary School, Kingstree

Tamassee-Salem High School, Salem

Tamassee-Salem Middle/High School, Salem

V.V. Reid School, Columbia

W.A. Perry Middle School, Columbia

Walker-Gamble Elementary School, New Zion

West-Oak High School

Westwood Elementary, Abbeville

White Knoll Middle School, Columbia

Whittemore Park Middle School, Conway

Wilder Elementary School, Sumter

Williams Middle, Florence

Woodruff Elementary School

York Middle School