Whether they’re emotionally disturbed or just flat out evil – the frequency of mass shooting incidents is becoming a greater cause for concern in recent years.
The tragedy that occurred at Columbine High School in Colorado was one of the first of it’s kind – since then, the incidents of crazed, or disturbed gunmen have gone wild.
Monday, November 28th, fresh off of the Thanksgiving Holiday a suspect allegedly went on a rampage on the campus of Ohio State University injuring seven. Initial reports were that it was a gunman, later reports state that a perpetrator stabbed and injured victims with a vehicle.
Nonetheless, the fright, hysteria, the unknown fear of ‘what if that happens here’ haunts many from day to day.
Lonnie Clark, 65th District House of Representatives, said that he believes “we are going to see more and more of the same that we saw at Ohio State today.”
“I don’t really advocate everybody going out and buying a gun and trying to defend themselves and everybody else and not knowing what they’re doing; I do think that people need to be cautious and they need to take steps to prepare themselves for these type of events because I just think they’re going to keep coming,” said Clark.
Not to be misconstrued, Clark said he is a supporter of the 2nd Amendment – the right to bear arms – however, he says it may not be the right thing for everybody to do. “There’s as many bad things that can happen when you carry a gun as there are good things, so it’s not the end all to all just because you’re carrying a gun…[people] need the right training and they need to be cautious.”
Ohio State University is a gun free campus – had there been a responsible gun owner, would there be a lessened victim toll? Kansas State University will allow campus-wide concealed carry as early as July 2017.
“It’s really difficult to tell a person that they can’t protect themselves with a firearm when they’re on a college campus; it’s their right to be able to protect themselves,” said Clark. “I’m not really for students carrying guns at the high school even if they are 18 and they have the right, but I think it’s a different situation in a college campus as oppose to the other educational situations.”
Kansas State revised a draft weapons policy that was submitted to the Kansas Board of Regents on October 19, 2016 which can be accessed here.
It reads, in part…
“Beginning July 1, 2017, any individual who is 21 years of age or older and who is lawfully eligible to carry a concealed handgun in Kansas shall not be precluded from doing so on campus except in buildings and areas of buildings for which adequate security measures are provided, and except as otherwise prohibited by law…Open carry of firearms and possession of weapons other than concealed handguns shall be prohibited on campus, while concealed carry of handguns is permitted on campus, subject to the rules stated in this policy….There are no University locations that have been designated as prohibiting concealed carry with permanent adequate security measures. The University may from time to time designate a specific location as temporarily prohibiting concealed carry and use temporary adequate security measures as defined and required by law….”
***feature photo courtesy: Andy Jacobsohn/Courtesy Dallas Morning News