March-News p.10

News

Is this the solution?

Guns and College Campuses

By Meghan Smith News Editor Jing Xu, Assoc. News Editor, contrubuted to this report

“They deserve a vote. Gabby Giffords deserves a vote. The families of Newtown deserve a vote. The families of Aurora deserve a vote. The families of Oak Creek, and Tucson, and Blacksburg, and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote.�

- President Barack Obama

re e h e l t i T 10

March 2013

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n his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation on Feb. 12, President Barack Obama reiterated his statement that has now become an important platform of his second term: more gun control. Although it took the tragedy of Newtown, Connecticut for Obama to mention gun control for the first time in a State of the Union address, the issue is now on the table, and Obama has made sure to mention other mass killings to highlight the urgent need for gun control reform.

Of all the campus police departments in the country, as many as 1 in 4 are not prepared to handle an active oncampus shooter, according to a survey

by Campus Safety Magazine. Another survey shows that 46 percent of campus public safety departments are understaffed. In the last decade, campus shootings have increased.

After the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in December, which left 26 people dead, including 20 children, public attention turned to whether stricter gun control was the solution for preventing another tragedy. Obama revealed a new plan on Jan. 16 to fight gun violence, one month after the deadly shooting, and urged Congress to pass it in his State of the Union address. However, it does not include provisions to specifically prevent shootings on college campuses.

Obama’s plan came in a combination of proposals to Congress, as well as an executive order—which does not need approval from the legislative body. He is proposing that Congress increase background checks for all gun purchases and that a ban is reinstated on assault-style weapons and highcapacity magazines. The proposal also includes more action on school safety, including increased federal aid so that schools can hire resources such as officers, counselors, psychologists, and gain more access to mental health www.bcgavel.com

care.

The executive action includes directing federal agencies to increase effectiveness of the national criminal background-check system, as well as lifting the freeze that has been put on research about gun violence at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obama also directed the Department of Education to ensure that all schools have improved emergencyresponse plans.

“I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality,” Obama said about the proposal. “If there’s even one thing that we can do to reduce this violence, if there’s even one life that can be saved, then we have an obligation to try. And I’m going to do my part.”

Among the executive actions is a directive that calls for “model emergency-response plans for schools, houses of worship and institutions of higher education.”

John King, the Boston College Police Department Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety, said that BCPD has been working in order to prepare the campus for a crisis.

“The Boston College Police Department has taken a proactive approach in preparing for critical incidents on campus,” he said. King would not comment on specific policies.

King also said that BC is working with various departments to ensure the safety of students. BCPD “works closely with other university departments, student organizations and external law-enforcement departments to help in providing a safe and secure community,” he said.

“All sworn members of the department meet various training standards set by the Massachusetts Police Training Council,” King added.

Without Obama specifically pushing for gun safety on college campuses, state government and college admin-

istrators are left with the task. Polls show that Americans have mixed responses about allowing guns on campuses. According to a poll from HuffPost/You Gov, Americans are evenly split at 43 percent for and against whether people with proper permits can be allowed to carry concealed guns on college campuses. The other 14 percent said they were unsure.

King is confident that BC is prepared to handle such a crisis. BC has policies in place which prohibit anyone from “possessing or carrying a firearm, loaded or unloaded, in any building or on the grounds of Boston College without the authorization of the Chief of the Boston College Police Department,” King said.

Obama’s proposals do not intend to remove guns from college campuses, despite the fact that the Sandy Hook shooting prompted hundreds of college and university presidents across the country to speak out about the issue. These presidents wrote a letter to encourage Obama to stay true to his word about using the power of his office to prevent gun violence and urged Americans not to forget that the deadliest mass shooting in American history took place on a college campus when 32 people were killed at Virginia Tech in 2007. Ten more college campus shootings have occurred since then.

“Our nation looks to colleges and universities to solve its most pressing problems and these are issues on which we stand ready to provide a way forward,” Emerson College President Lee Pelton said in a letter to Obama on behalf of college presidents. “We, therefore, pledge to do what we do best in our academic communities: engage thought leaders, faculty, students, staff, trustees and friends in meaningful debate and dialogue, which, in turn, might lead to positive action,” he said.

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