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School gun case sparks debate over safety and second chances

With "See Something, Say Something" displayed on a main entrance monitor in the foreground, security staff chat at Oak Park and River Forest High School after a school board meeting on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. Signs encouraging students to report suspicious and unsafe activity can be found throughout this and many other high schools. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) Greg Johnson, superintendent of the district that oversees Oak Park and River Forest High School, speaks at a school board meeting on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. In 2020, shortly after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, the school board voted 6-1 to remove a police officer from the school. As the school has tightened security, due to concerning incidents, Johnson is now working with the Oak Park police to come up with an agreement that would strengthen its ties with the school. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) Keyon Robinson, center rear, talks on the phone to a manager at the restaurant where he works, while his older sister, Sierra Bryant, converses with family friend Leon Watson, on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) Keyon Robinson, 19, leaves his apartment to go to work at a restaurant on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. Robinson, who's facing felony charges for having a gun on his high school's campus last May, had one month before graduation when he was arrested. He recently started working at a restaurant while his case works its way through the courts. He also wants to go to community college and hopes he might get a deferred sentence as a first-time offender. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) Keyon Robinson, 19, and his mother, Nicole Bryant, wait outside a courtroom after a status hearing for Robinson's gun case on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022, at the Circuit Court of Cook County in Maywood, Ill. Robinson was arrested with a gun in his backpack outside his high school in Oak Park, Ill., and is facing felony charges. Robinson said he took the gun to school to protect himself after an altercation with a relative and had no intentions of hurting anyone. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) This photo taken May 3, 2022, and provided the Oak Park, Ill., Police Department shows Keyon Robinson shortly after he was arrested outside Oak Park and River Forest High School. Robinson was a senior at the high school at the time and had brought the gun to school to protect himself after an altercation with a relative. He said he had no plan to hurt anyone and is hoping for a deferred sentence that will allow him to attend community college while on probation. (Oak Park Police Department via AP) This image taken May 3, 2022, and provided by the Oak Park, Ill., Police Department shows a ghost gun found in a backpack taken from Keyon Robinson outside Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Ill. Robinson was a senior at the high school at the time and said he had brought the gun to school to protect himself after an altercation with a relative. Robinson bought the ghost gun, which has no serial number, via a gun seller who advertised on the social media site Snapchat. Many ghost guns are made with 3D printers. Illinois is among states that have passed laws to try to keep them off the streets. (Oak Park Police Department via AP0 This image taken May 3, 2022, and provided by the Oak Park, Ill., Police Department, shows a gun and ammunition found in a backpack taken from Keyon Robinson outside Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Ill. Robinson was a senior at the high school at the time and said he had brought the gun to school to protect himself after an altercation with a relative. Robinson, who said he had no plan to hurt anyone, bought the ghost gun via a gun seller who advertised on the social media site Snapchat. (Oak Park Police Department via AP) The back of a student ID from Oak Park and River Forest High School is shown Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. Students are encouraged to text anonymous tips about safety and crime concerns to school staff. As concerns about violence in schools have grown, several states also have established their own tip lines to gather this sort of information. It's one of several tactics security and law enforcement are using to try to keep students and school staff safe. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) Keyon Robinson, 19, looks at a family photo on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, at his family's apartment in Oak Park, Ill. Robinson, who was arrested in May with a ghost gun in his backpack outside his high school in the Chicago suburb, has been largely confined to his home this summer while his case works its way through the courts. He called his actions "senseless," and when asked if he had anything to say to the school community, he said, "I just really want to say sorry, because if I was in your shoes, I'd be scared." (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) A student walks past Oak Park and River Forest High School on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. Security experts say that keeping perimeter doors locked during class time is key to keeping students safe. They also concede that, even with stringent security, keeping guns out of the nation's schools is difficult. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine) A no-gun sticker is displayed a doorway at Oak Park and River Forest High School on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022, in Oak Park, Ill. Despite laws banning guns from schools, educators in cities, suburbs and rural areas say keeping guns out of schools is difficult. (AP Photo/Martha Irvine)