Shooting is at least Fourth on a Texas College Campus Since the State’s Controversial Guns on Campus Law Went into Effect and at Least the 245th School Shooting in the U.S. Since 2013
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, released the following statement in response to the fatal shooting of a police officer at Texas Tech University late Monday night. While details are still unfolding, reports indicate that a 19-year-old student shot and killed a campus police officer at the police station. Officers were conducting a student welfare check earlier that evening and discovered drugs and drugs paraphernalia, resulting in the student being taken to the police station where he pulled out a gun and fatally shot an officer. The campus was placed on lockdown before he was taken into custody.
The shooting occurred just over a year after the state’s controversial guns on campus law went into effect. The law forces public colleges and universities in the state to allow people to carry guns on campuses. While it appears that the shooter in this case was not legally able to carry a gun on campus, this incident reinforces the implicit danger of allowing guns on college campuses. Research by Everytown for Gun Safety shows that this is the fourth shooting on a Texas college campus since the law went into effect, and the second fatal shooting. This is also at least the 245th school shooing in the U.S. since 2013.
STATEMENT FROM DR. LISA EPSTEIN, VOLUNTEER CHAPTER LEADER FOR THE TEXAS CHAPTER OF MOMS DEMAND ACTION FOR GUN SENSE IN AMERICA:
“I am heartbroken for the family of the police officer who was shot and killed last night at Texas Tech University. While we mourn the tragic loss of this member of our community, we should remember that in 2015, the politicians who represent us in Austin passed a dangerous law to force colleges and universities in our state to allow guns on campuses. This is the fourth campus shooting in Texas since that law took effect.
“Members of campus communities – including students, professors and the people who go to work every day to protect them – deserve to be safe from gun violence. This fatal shooting demonstrates, yet again, that guns should not be allowed on college campuses and that we need to work together to prevent dangerous, gun-lobby-backed proposals that weaken our gun laws from passing in our state.”