Yesterday, news outlets reported an active shooter on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA. A campus police officer, Deriek W. Crouse, was shot dead while attending to a routine traffic stop. Crouse was a 39-year old father of five and Army veteran who joined the university police department a scant six months after the infamous massacre of thirty-two students by Seung-Hui Cho in April of 2007. The as-yet unidentified gunman reportedly walked up to Crouse and pulled the trigger, ending his life. Shortly thereafter, Crouse's assailant ended his own life in a campus parking lot only a half-mile away.
In 2007, a full two hours had elapsed from the time Cho shot his first two victims in an on-campus dormitory and the time the remaining thirty victims were killed in a classroom building across campus. Despite knowing about the first two murders, the university issued no warnings to students, cancelled no classes, and instituted no lockdown. Following that incident, the school was strongly criticized for its lack of action in warning the campus population, which some say could have saved the lives of the second group. In response, Virginia Tech instituted several different warning methods including e-mail, text messaging, and public address alarms.
Pro-gun rights groups like Students for Concealed Carry on Campus had also criticized the school for its "gun-free" campus policy, claiming that even a single armed student or faculty member could have saved at least some of victims as well. Virginia state law does not forbid the carry of firearms on any college campus by licensed individuals. The matter is left completely up to each college or university, as either a matter of policy or regulation. Virginia Tech has just such a policy, as do many others in the state, and the policy was in place at the time of Cho's massacre. However, the administration held fast on their "no guns" rule following the incident, believing that somehow their policy would prevent gun violence from ever breaching their campus borders in the future. Yesterday's incident has proven them wrong.
Critics might argue that allowing licensed concealed carriers on campus wouldn't have saved lives in 2007, and most certainly would not have saved the life of Officer Crouse. Proponents of campus carry might argue the opposite position. The argument is irrelevant, as there are simply too many variables to consider. Perhaps an armed individual could have stopped Cho during his nine minute assault in the classroom building. Perhaps not.
But one thing is for certain, as demonstrated twice now at Virginia Tech. The campus gun ban is ineffective against an armed intruder intent on committing gun violence, the very thing it supposedly is designed to prevent. There has never been a single case anywhere in which a crazed or violent criminal has been deterred by either a sign or a policy. It is, unfortunately, the nature of the beast. Only law-abiding citizens obey the law, or honor policies of any sort. Therefore, the policy merely serves to provide a "safe-zone" for violent criminal activity, and a false sense of security to campus residents, employees, and visitors. Admittedly, violent crime on campus is somewhat rare. Nonetheless that statistic is meaningless to the victims, especially to those who despite having demonstrated the responsibility of lawfully obtaining a carry license, are denied the ability to defend themselves.
Most, if not all, college campus buildings are equipped with a fire suppression (sprinkler) system. It is designed and installed with the intent of saving lives in the unlikely event of a fire. Imagine then, a fire in a college dormitory in 2007 where two students were killed because the sprinkler system didn't work. Two hours later, another thirty students died across campus again, because the sprinkler system did not do what it was designed to do. Four years later, another death due to fire. How long would it take for the college administration to realize there was a major fault with the sprinkler system? How many parents would be up in arms to replace the system with something that at least gave students a chance for survival?
The Virginia Tech incidents occurred on just one campus, in just one state. Similar events have occurred on campuses throughout the country, each one a gun-free zone. How many more such incidents will need to occur before college administrators realize that gun bans simply do not protect the students, faculty, and staff from unpredictable acts of gun violence?
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