Roskam meets in closed-door session with students on gun issues

Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam discussed gun issues with nine high school students and an adviser Saturday in his West Chicago office.

Roskam agreed to the hourlong closed-door meeting after he missed a student-sponsored public "Town Hall for Our Lives" that attracted upward of 600 people April 7 at First United Methodist Church in Glen Ellyn.

That town hall, attended by Roskam's 6th District Democratic challenger Sean Casten, was part of a nationwide groundswell of student protests organized in the wake of a Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Roskam met with six students who organized that town hall and March 14 high school walkout protests at Glenbard North, Glenbard West, Glenbard South and Wheaton North, though they were surprised to see that three other students with opposing views had also been invited to attend.

"The three students we did not know spoke of being pro-Second Amendment rights and not participating in their walkouts," said Erica Bray-Parker, an instructor and civics club sponsor at Glenbard North High School in Carol Stream. "Everyone was perfectly pleasant, but it was very rigid."

Among the issues discussed were universal background checks, whether teachers should be armed in classrooms and mental health issues. Since media were not invited, some of the six students who originally requested the meeting with Roskam held a media conference call afterward.

"What we were looking for from Mr. Roskam was to basically get an insight of whether he had taken any action on school safety and common sense gun reform," said Jeromel Lara, a junior at Glenbard North.

"It wasn't very politically divisive," said Caleb Laschinski, a Carol Stream senior at Wheaton Academy who found out about the Saturday meeting from a friend who was a former Roskam intern. "We all saw that there definitely should be reform and laws passed and we need to see some action on the part of lawmakers - whatever those actions should be is where we differed."

Contacted by phone after the meeting, Laschinski said he was surprised by Roskam's reluctance to support arming teachers - though Roskam did clarify that he wanted individual school districts to make the call on that issue.

"I hope the students left the meeting knowing that we found common ground and feeling like the meeting was as productive as I believe it was," Roskam said in a prepared statement. "I encourage these students to stay engaged and informed on issues that they are passionate about like gun safety and am pleased that we were able to connect on such an important subject."

While many of the students were glad that Roskam agreed to the Saturday meeting, they still wished he would have done so in a more public forum.

"It's an issue that affects the whole community," Lara said. "Not just students going to school, but all of us."