Texas College Shooting Adds to Gun Violence Debate
SOURCE:
A Harris Precinct 4 Constable blocks off an entrance to the Lone Star College North Harris campus after a shooting on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 in Houston.
Just a month after the Sandy Hook shooting in Connecticut, three individuals were wounded Tuesday in a shooting on the campus of Lone Star College in Houston, Texas.
With more than six campuses, Lone Star College is a community college that hosts 90,000 students. The midday shooting occurred on the North Harris campus, which sits just 20 miles north of the George W. Bush International Airport.
Immediately after gunfire erupted, campus officials evacuated and closed the college for the remainder of the day. A system emergency alert was posted at the school’s website shortly after, directing students and faculty to “take immediate shelter.” Police blocked all the access into the campus, preventing any passengers from entering the college grounds.
Additionally, Lone Star officials warned the community by posting on Twitter: “Shooting around 12:31 today at LSC-North Harris between two individuals, three shot. Danger has been mitigated. Situation under control.”
According to campus authorities, the shooting was a result of an altercation between two individuals, one of whom was a student. Police officials reported three people injured. Suffering from several gun shot wounds, the unidentified individuals are in serious condition at the Ben Taub Hospital in Houston. While police have not officially found the gunman, they told the Houston Chronicle that "a person of interest has been detained.”
After weeks of proposing regulations to prevent gun violence on our campuses and in our communities, President Obama has faced considerable opposition, primarily under the scrutiny that his proposals neglected to uphold the Second Amendment.
Once it surfaced that the gunmen behind the Aurora, Colo., massacre and the Sandy Hook tragedy were using military-grade weapons, the proposal to reinstate the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban has become one of the larger concerns behind the efforts to curb gun violence. The weapon ban, coupled with President Obama’s plan to create safer school environments and ensure background checks, may receive stronger reports than previous proposals.
Cherise Lesesne is a reporter for Campus Progress.
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