Campus Safety and Gun Control
In the aftermath of the April 16th tragedy at Virginia Tech, school and government officials have begun to reexamine gun control policies. How was Cho Seung-Hui, previously deemed mentally unstable, able to purchase a gun in the first place, when the law forbids the sale of guns to the mentally troubled? State officials did not report Cho’s mental illness to the federal records because he was never placed in a mental hospital and because gun dealers only use the federal records when they run background checks on buyers, Cho was able to slip through the cracks. Many officials say that this problem won’t be solved by creating more gun control laws, but rather by better enforcing those which are already in place.
This, however, is not the only gun control debate brought to light by the Virginia Tech shootings. Officials are now considering if guns should be banned from the campuses of public universities. There are both pros and cons to this idea. Obviously such gun control could potentially stop a shooting because people would not be permitted to have a gun with them on campus, so they would not have easy access to a firearm which they could potentially use inappropriately. Oftentimes, however, guns are used for protection and by banning guns from university campuses, some students would be without defense against a shooter. Jamie Dean cites an example of such self defense in his article “Seeking Safety” saying, “a disgruntled student shot three people in the dean’s office. Two students stopped the gunman after retrieving firearms from their car and disarming the murderer” (Dean, “Seeking Safety”). This example proves the value in the other side of the debate, which is against banning guns on university campuses.
I think that it is important to enforce the gun control laws that have already been established, but is not necessary to create new ones. Enforcing a gun ban on public universities would be nearly impossible, and never without cracks. If someone has a mind to bring such destruction, they will find a way, with or without a gun ban. Still, the tragedy at Virginia Tech has opened discussion about university gun control and security, and the college campus may never be quite the same.
Dean, Jamie. “Seeking Safety.” World Magazine. May 5, 2007.