Yesterday afternoon when the University of Arkansas announced that there'd been a shooting at its radio station, and that a work study student's gun went off in the breakroom, the campus got vocal real fast.
The student violated university rules by bringing the gun to campus, the Razorback community said. Because the student violated campus rules a number in the community feel the student therefore should be suspended or expelled.
Some students wanted to separate the incident from the campus, since the incident happened in the bathroom of the university's radio station. But that argument didn't hold water long because the station is, obviously, part of the Fayetteville campus.
Some say the student was showing the gun off to another student. The campus, according to TV station KARK (an NBC affiliate), was hosting a gun forum today. The student was carrying the weapon in his backpack.
But far and wide, most online commentators disagree with concealed and carry laws etching its way into the campus handbook. Most question the need for students to be armed on campus and in the classroom.
Even more chided irresponsible gun ownership.
In the end, the student's injuries are not life threatening. This gun incident, one said, isn't a big deal at all. Meanwhile, others want to know if the student was registered to own a gun.
On college campuses, shooters generally have targets. The latest issue of the New Yorker details the college professor, Amy Bishop, who was denied tenure at the University of Alabama. Bishop unloaded her weapon at a meeting and killed several faculty members.
Bishop's mass shooting was not her first incident with a gun. She'd accidentally shot her brother in 1986 when her brother was 18.
While the shooting incident at the University of Arkansas may not be a big deal to some, it's a big deal to most people because most people are aware that the mere presence of a loaded weapon and a mistake potentially results in a death, or irreversible injury.
Parents upset with the student who brought a weapon to the Razorback campus are likely the same parents who have rifles at their front and balcony doors.
If the University of Arkansas doesn't allow guns on its campus, this student should face disciplinary hearings similar to those a drunk driver would face. The incident could have been far worse and anyone who commits a gun death or shooting, even by accident, that injures another person should be sentenced.
Gun accidents are not the same as making a left into a busy intersection and misjudging an approaching vehicle. Gun accidents and its potential but inherent danger are intensely and unforgivably senseless.
Senseless people shouldn't be on college campuses.
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