Defenseless?Kiel McLaughlin 21 February 2008 Recent school shootings have left a permanent imprint on the minds of people across the country, leading to questions about prevention. One week ago, 27-year-old graduate student Steven Kazmierczak opened fire on students in a lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University, killing five and hospitalizing six others. Less than a year ago, Seung-Hui Cho marched through a Virginia Tech academic building with a .22 caliber handgun, killing 32 people, including students and teachers, and wounding 25 others. Both shooters then turned the gun on themselves, taking their own lives. One path to prevention would be increased gun control to keep the criminally inclined from receiving firearms. An alternative movement seeks to arm students and faculty, allowing them to defend themselves against shooters. Towson is a gun-free zone. The University’s weapons policy bans all firearms, along with other weapons such as Billy clubs, nunchakus and even pellet and prop guns. Only police officers are allowed to carry firearms. According to Towson University Police captain Joe Herring, there have been 12 weapons violations on campus since 2006. Only one of the incidents involved a handgun. Two involved pellet guns and one a replica gun. The majority of incidents involved knives or edged weapons. “There is much more to making campus safe than putting more handguns on campus. It’s a complex issue and you can’t look at any one thing as a solution,” Herring said. Some researchers and analysts disagree, citing research that shows districts and states that more freely allow permitted gun owners to carry concealed weapons have seen a distinct drop in violent crime. The reasoning is that gun-free zones become targets for would-be shooters who can be sure fire will not be returned. “The problem is that gun control laws don’t stop people from committing acts of violence,” 1090 AM WBAL radio talk show host Ron Smith said. “As a matter of fact, it means guns are only in the hands of those that that are criminally inclined and are going to break the law anyway.” Smith cited the difference in violent crime rates between Washington D.C. and Virginia. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2004 statistics, Washington D.C., which maintains strict handgun laws, had about 1,371 cases of violent crime per 100,000 people. Virginia, which has more permissive handgun carry laws, had 290 cases of violent crime per 100,000 people. “In the 1980s, when Florida liberalized their carry laws, there were dire predictions from the gun control people and liberals in general who said blood was going to be running in the streets,” Smith said. “Of course, the incidents of violent crime have gone down in Florida and stayed down because criminals can’t be sure that their targets won’t be able to defend themselves.” Utah is the only state that has repealed laws that made public universities gun-free zones. They have yet to experience any gun-related violent crimes, according to research done by a grassroots student group in support of concealed carry rights, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. “Public schools are public domain so they should follow the law of the state that they are in,” Towson senior Andrew Dodson, who is a National Rifle Association certified instructor, said. “It’s a shame that Towson won’t honor my permit to carry that the state of Maryland has given me.” Herring said the greatest concerns of the TUPD include potential gun theft and accidental discharge of weapons along with the level of training carriers would have. “You have a concern of the security of weapons on campus,” Herring said. “For instance, the large number of thefts and burglaries on campus are criminals taking advantage of the property unattended. It stands to reason the security of the weapons brought on campus would be a concern.” A political science major, Dodson works at a local firearms shop and does not believe there should be any concerns of accidental discharge or random violence occurring due to the extensive background and character checks required to obtain a handgun in Maryland. After a thorough investigation into a permit applicant’s background is completed, the applicant must interview with the state police and wait a week before receiving the handgun. Handguns are classified with “assault weapons” by Maryland law. If the state police deem the applicant unfit to own the firearm, they can deny the request. In order to obtain a permit to carry a handgun, the applicant must be 18 years old or older with no criminal background that includes prison time. The applicant also may not have spent time in a juvenile detention center within the last 10 years or have a history of alcohol, drug use, violence or instability as determined by an investigation. Dodson said preparing students and faculty could only have positive results. “Arming and training of people is only a good thing, especially in our culture that seems to be scared at the thought of self-defense,” he said. Justin Van Hassel is a senior theater major who owns firearms, including a handgun, and regularly visits gun ranges to shoot with friends. But he is against students being allowed to carry concealed handguns on campuses. “There is a very real danger when carrying a firearm,” he said. Van Hassel does not believe a change in legislation to allow for concealed carry would stop shooters. “I think that it would be very little of a deterrent,” he said. “I don’t think people who commit those kinds of acts really care about that kind of stuff.” Miriam Sealock, an associate professor in the department of sociology, anthropology and criminal justice, teaches courses that discuss gun laws. She said Maryland has some of the most strict gun laws in the country and does not expect any legislation to change. “In a state like Maryland, the law, as well as the general community, will look at guns in a different way then other jurisdictions,” Sealock said. “I don’t think the movement will bear much fruit in this state. There is not a lot of public support.” A week prior to the shootings at Northern Illinois, Sealock posted an article about concealed carry rights for students on a Blackboard discussion board for her introduction to criminal justice course. She said the overwhelming reaction to the concept was negative. The majority of the students were against the possibility of other students and faculty members having handguns concealed. As an educator and a gun owner, Sealock said, she would carry a concealed firearm to class, but she does have concerns as far as how safe the practice would be for instructors with less training. “I would not feel uncomfortable, but it’s a matter of if students should trust their safety to someone who isn’t specially trained,” she said. “It’s not like you have a sharpshooter in every classroom trained to take out a target. Your average citizen isn’t able to do that.” Proponents of concealed carry laws on campus, such as College Libertarians member Alex Peak, said if colleges and universities were no longer gun-free zones, most students and faculty members would not carry guns. “No one who does not wish to carry a weapon should ever be forced to carry a weapon,” he said. “But for those faculty members who do wish to be trained and armed, they should not be prevented.” Herring said the best option for preventing a school shooting is not adding more guns to the campus community, but a watchful eye for potential risks. “The key is good early warning and prevention methods in place to possibly identify the threat and have an intervention,” he said. “If something doesn’t look right, or something doesn’t feel right, notify the Towson Police and we’ll come help you.’ This article was published in The Towerlight (21 February 2008), pp. 1, 8. |