(CNSNews.com) - Posters reading, "Be Cool... Don't Let Guns Rule" are going up in all public schools in Hamilton County, Tenn., which includes the Chattanooga metropolitan area.

"The initiative will aid in keeping guns out of schools, thus allowing students and teachers to focus on learning," the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in a news release.

The ATF says as students walk their school hallways, they will see the posters, which promise anonymity to those who call Crime Stoppers to report what they see or hear.

"The time period between preventing an act of violence and having one erupt is a matter of seconds," said ATF Special Agent in Charge James Cavanaugh. "This program is a simple, yet effective tool in helping keep schools safe. Our partnership aims at a quick response to any reported information, a thorough investigation and ultimately getting the school day back to normal."

Dr. Jim Scales, superintendent of the Hamilton County Public Schools, noted that one of the goals in the school system's strategic plan "is to engage kids in order to keep campuses safe. This puts us a step closer."

The hotline also is expected to help authorities identify and investigate other criminal activity, both inside and outside the classroom.

"This is another effort through communication and cooperation with other agencies to accomplish a common goal," said Hamilto0n County Sheriff Allen Branum. "This initiative, however, should not be viewed as a complete solution, but it certainly can be effective in reducing crime."

The poster, which was designed by ATF, "strongly warns" that bringing a firearm onto any school campus, including after hours school-related events, is a violation of both state and federal law. It's also a crime to provide a firearm to anyone who then brings the gun to a school campus.

The ATF said the "Be Cool...Don't Let Guns Rule" program successfully operates in three counties in the Nashville area.

'Irresponsible parents

Last week, a Hamilton County Court judge addressed the growing problem of school violence.

Speaking to a local Kiwanis Club on April 18, Judge Bob Moon said, "There are significant problems of violence, truancy, drugs and disrespect in many of our schools throughout Hamilton County," and that some schools are more violent than others.

Judge Moon -- as quoted by The Chattanoogan -- said he and other judges are seeing too many students "going directly from the classroom to courtroom and entering prison without a diploma."

He noted that many troubled students live in drug- and gang-riddled communities and have "irresponsible" parents. "Such an environment translates into dangerous and disruptive school campuses and classrooms," Judge Moon said.

The judge also addressed truancy, citing a report that said more than 50,000 students fail to attend schools on an average day.

Not just Hamilton County

Many school systems are concerned about guns and violence on campus.

A quick glance at the headlines just from this week shows daily incidents of guns being confiscated at schools across the country.

On Monday, a Kentucky high school was locked down after a student was seen with a gun. Police found the boy with an unloaded handgun. Also on Monday, a 14-year-old student was caught with a loaded pellet gun in his backpack at a Newport News, Va., middle school; and in Selma, Ala., a 15-year-old student brought an unloaded gun to his school.

On Tuesday, a fifth-grader at a Baltimore City school reportedly pointed an unloaded gut at fellow student on the playground. Also on Tuesday, in Red House, West Virginia, a boy described only as "very young" brought a broken, unloaded gun to his elementary schoo, but teachers don't think he planned to hurt anyone.

On Wednesday, a fourth-grader fired a gun inside a Linden, N.J., elementary school. He said he found the gun in a trash can and was showing it to a friend in a coat closet when it went off. No one was hurt. Also on Wednesday, two Walker County, Tn., elementary school students were caught with a loaded gun on school property.

On Thursday A 16-year-old student at a Fort Wayne, Ind., alternative school was caught with a handgun.

And it's not always guns: In South Carolina, an18-year-old straight-A student is accused of collecting bomb-making materials to be used in blowing up his school. The charges against him, filed Tuesday, include attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. His parents turned him in to police on Saturday.

In related headlines, the City of Chicago is reeling from an outbreak of violence, which police attribute mainly to gangs and warmer weather. (A report in The Chicago Daily Observer said murders may be rising in the city because "police are demoralized and intensely dissatisfied with conditions at the very top of the department.")

Of the 38 people shot or stabbed in Chicago last weekend, 9 died and 13 of the victims were public school students. None of the attacks between Friday and Monday happened at schools, however.

Mayor Richard Daley on Monday urged parents to take responsibility for their children -- and to "know where your children are."