Gun-toting kids to visit morgue as punishment

"Young people need to see the results of violent acts,'' Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich said.

"Far too many youngsters are desensitised to violence. They need to realize it's not a movie or a video game when someone is shot.''

Antonovich, who authored the resolution that was approved by the County Board of Supervisors, said it was the nation's first such law and was modelled after a similar programme for young drunk drivers that had been proven to work.

He added: "If they (kids) are old enough to bring a gun to school, they're old enough to tour the coroner's office.''

The resolution was unanimously passed by the board on Tuesday, just over a week after a 15-year-old high school student in the San Diego area opened fire on his classmates, killing two people and wounding 13.

Antonovich said it was also in response to a spate of violence at schools across the country that began with the April 1999 massacre of 15 people at Columbine High School in Colorado.

Los Angeles has reported 11 arrests of minors for making threats or bringing a gun to school since Feb 22, he said.

Chris Dickerson, a spokesman for Antonovich, said under current laws, any child caught with a gun at school or making "terrorist threats'' against his classmates could be referred to police by the school and face a judge to decide if the charges were true.

Dickerson said there was no definition of "terrorist threat'' in the new law, but that in law enforcement terms it meant "a threat to do bodily harm to one or more students.''

Traditionally, the young offender would face a range of punishments, including possible probation. Under the new law, the judge would also have the authority to make the child take a tour of the coroner's morgue, Dickerson said.

The new law does not set a minimum age at which a child could be forced to take the tour, but supervisors do not expect judges to send very young children on the tour.

Addressing concerns that it could be harmful to subject young children to dead bodies or autopsies, Dickerson said the judge and probation authorities would act as "stop gaps'' to make sure that the punishment was appropriate.--Reuters