Guns Are in Schools but Not in the President's Vocabulary

"I happen to agree," Bush said. "But what do I know?"

"Yes, sir," Gonzales replied, drawing chuckles from those in the crowd who thought he was agreeing with the "what do I know" quip.

Bush and his fellow participants stood in front of a faux blackboard inscribed with the words "Conference on School Safety" 42 times. With gun control off the table, the questions and comments became a bit repetitious, too, as a long line of participants echoed the belief that school violence would be reduced by values education and religious belief.

"It's illegal to say 'God' in the public schools these days," complained one questioner. He was followed by a representative of the American Association of Christian Schools. Craig Scott, brother of a girl killed in the Columbine massacre, said she was "killed for her faith."

"Lots of folks find answers in their faith," Spellings observed.

They certainly did yesterday. Another panelist spoke about the need for churches to "adopt" schools. An organization started by the Scotts, Rachel's Challenge, distributed brochures comparing the slain girl and her father to Anne Frank and her father.

When Bush arrived, Craig Scott was invited to speak again. This time, he read a poem he said his father read while appearing before a congressional committee.

"You've outlawed simple prayer.

"Now gunshots fill our classrooms and precious children die . . .

"You regulate restrictive law through legislative creed, and yet you failed to understand that God is what we need."

Until that point, Bush had been having trouble finding his voice on school shootings, which one of his own panelists asserted could number as high as 600 over the past six years. He labeled the violence "inexplissible," apparently merging "inexplicable" and "inexpressible." And he had to guide the discussion away from one panelist's remark about "computer predators" -- a dangerous topic during the Mark Foley scandal.

But on hearing Scott's "unbelievably eloquent testimony," Bush brightened considerably.

"That was great, Craig," the president said, after the audience finished its standing ovation. "Could I have that?"