In the days since a 16-year-old former student  shot and killed three students and a teacher in a special education classroom at Silver Rail Elementary School, injuring two others, the community of Bend, Oregon, has been in mourning. 

Parents, students, and community members have gathered at memorials, l offering flowers, leaving stuffed animals and lighting candles to pay their respects to the victims – three children aged 5, 8, and 11 and their teacher, Megan Lambert, 25. Lambert’s family said in a statement that she “fought for the underdog and children with special needs.”

The suspected gunman, Griffin J John II, jumped a fence and shot through locked school doors to enter the building before being shot and killed by a parent, police said.

Residents of  the central Oregon town of 100,000 were shocked that such violence happened in their community. Kacy McCarney and her 12-year-old daughter Bayleigh, a former Silver Rail student, brought roses and daisies to the vigil.​

“You see the horrific things that happen outside of your town, and it’s horrific and terrifying and so sad. You never think it’s going to happen on the home front to our community, to our babies,” Kacy McCarney told the Guardian. She said one of her daughter’s friends was injured and hospitalized in the shooting.

The Dougy Center, a Portland-based nonprofit that provides support to grieving families and children, offered advice on how parents can speak with children about such tragedies. Adults should help kids feel safe by modeling calm, limiting exposure to distressing news and creating space for open, age-appropriate conversations about what happened.

“They need to see that we care, that we feel terrible about this tragedy, and that we will do everything we can to keep them safe. They will take their cues from our behavior,” wrote Donna Schuurman, senior director of advocacy and training at the Dougy Center.

In the aftermath of the shooting, reported The Trace, a news organization that reports on America’s gun-violence crisis, gun control groups renewed their push to strengthen weak federal gun laws while gun rights proponents argued that Oregon’s strong gun laws — including universal background checks, a red flag law, and a ban on ghost guns — didn’t prevent the shooting.

But that, noted The Trace, is not the point. Strong gun laws do have an effect on overall gun violence – even if they can’t prevent mass shootings at schools and other places.

“Mass shootings represent less than 1% of gun violence in this country,” Michael Anestis, director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University, told The Trace. “Research has shown time and time again that specific forms of firearm legislation are effective at reducing specific forms of injury and death,” he added. 

The name “MindSite News” is used with the express permission of Mindsight Institute, an educational organization offering online learning and in-person workshops in the field of mental health and wellbeing. MindSite News and Mindsight Institute are separate, unaffiliated entities that are aligned in making science accessible and promoting mental health globally.

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After Deadly Oregon School Shooting, Experts Offer Advice to Grieving Families and Advocates Renew Call for Stronger Gun Laws

by Jariel Arvin, MindSite News
October 20, 2026

<h1>After Deadly Oregon School Shooting, Experts Offer Advice to Grieving Families and Advocates Renew Call for Stronger Gun Laws</h1> <p class="byline">by Jariel Arvin, MindSite News <br />October 20, 2026</p> </p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://dl3wjxrn8qv3a.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/20132212/APlead-1024x576.png" alt="" class="wp-image-18586" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Credit: AP</figcaption></figure> <p>In the days since a 16-year-old former student&nbsp; shot and killed three students and a teacher in a special education classroom at Silver Rail Elementary School, injuring two others, the community of Bend, Oregon, has been in mourning.&nbsp;</p> <p>Parents, students, and community members have gathered at memorials, l offering flowers, leaving stuffed animals and lighting candles to pay their respects to the victims – three children aged 5, 8, and 11 and their teacher, Megan Lambert, 25. Lambert’s family said in a <a href="https://abcnews.com/US/victims-bend-oregon-elementary-school-shooting/story?id=137324650">statement</a> that she “fought for the underdog and children with special needs.”</p> <p>The suspected gunman, Griffin J John II, jumped a fence and shot through locked school doors to enter the building before being shot and killed by a parent, police said.</p> <p>Residents of&nbsp; the central Oregon town of 100,000 were shocked that such violence happened in their community. Kacy McCarney and her 12-year-old daughter Bayleigh, a former Silver Rail student, brought roses and daisies to the vigil.​</p> <p>“You see the horrific things that happen outside of your town, and it’s horrific and terrifying and so sad. You never think it’s going to happen on the home front to our community, to our babies,” Kacy McCarney <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/17/bend-oregon-school-shooting">told</a> the Guardian. She said one of her daughter's friends was injured and hospitalized in the shooting.</p> <p>The Dougy Center, a Portland-based nonprofit that provides support to grieving families and children, offered advice on how parents can speak with children about such tragedies. Adults should help kids feel safe by modeling calm, limiting exposure to distressing news and creating space for open, age-appropriate conversations about what happened.</p> <p>“They need to see that we care, that we feel terrible about this tragedy, and that we will do everything we can to keep them safe. They will take their cues from our behavior,” <a href="https://www.dougy.org/resource-articles/talking-with-children-about-tragic-events">wrote</a> Donna Schuurman, senior director of advocacy and training at the Dougy Center.</p> <p>In the aftermath of the shooting, <a href="https://www.thetrace.org/2026/10/strict-gun-laws-prevent-gun-violence/">reported The Trace</a>, a news organization that reports on America's gun-violence crisis, gun control groups renewed their push to strengthen weak federal gun laws while gun rights proponents <a href="https://x.com/MorosKostas/status/2110890663357432078">argued</a> that Oregon’s strong gun laws — including universal background checks, a red flag law, and a ban on ghost guns — didn’t prevent the shooting.</p> <p>But that, noted The Trace, is not the point. Strong gun laws do have an effect on overall gun violence – even if they can't prevent mass shootings at schools and other places.</p> <p>“Mass shootings represent less than 1% of gun violence in this country,” Michael Anestis, director of the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University, told The Trace. “Research has shown time and time again that specific forms of firearm legislation are effective at reducing specific forms of injury and death,” he added.&nbsp;</p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mindsitenews.org/2026/10/20/after-deadly-oregon-school-shooting-experts-offer-advice-to-grieving-families-and-advocates-renew-call-for-stronger-gun-laws/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://mindsitenews.org&quot;&gt;MindSite News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://mindsitenews.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=18585&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;

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