Isaac Fick|Marlin Chronicle
With reports showing firearm violence around the Hampton Roads area, students on campus and parents are concerned.
Firearm violence incidents in Virginia Beach have decreased in recent years. The City of Virginia Beach website included insight from Chief Paul Neudigate regarding 2024 crime data.
Neudigate said the decrease is due to “a prioritized focus on the small numbers of individuals willing to engage in gun violence; […] the dedication of the VB Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to successfully prosecute homicide, shooting, robbery offenses, etc., resulting in convictions; and our courts that ensure sentencing is commensurate with the offense.”
In response to firearm violence in the Hampton Roads area, Ceasefire Virginia is an initiative aiming to address it through education and access to services, along with law enforcement. On their website, the organization said progress toward reducing violence comes from collective action: “Together, we can build a safer Virginia, one community at a time.”
Jette Hafermann, freshman and international student, said that policies can help reduce feelings of unsafety that could arise on the Virginia Wesleyan campus.
“When I hear about shootings at other nearby universities, like the recent one at ODU, it’s definitely scary. Those kinds of incidents make me feel nervous on my own campus too, because even with policies in place, things like that can happen anywhere,” Hafermann said.
Dr. Jeffrey Toussaint, associate professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice, said that America is not doing enough to reduce firearm violence.
Toussaint mentioned the school shooting that occurred in Uvalde, Texas in 2022. “There were 100 police officers […] outside the school, and the guy still killed children,” Toussaint said. Toussaint said he takes the stance that police presence is not effective and firearms need to be taken out of peoples’ hands.
In reference to change at the policy level, Toussaint emphasized the priority of protecting children, saying, “if that’s not a catalyst for change, for laws, policies and electing people who will act, then I’m not really sure what would be.”
Toussaint spoke on the impact of socioeconomic inequality and firearm laws in the U.S. compared to other countries. He said political reforms and improved mental health systems would aid efforts to reduce firearm violence. “We care more about access to guns than we care about our children,” Toussaint said.
Toussaint pointed to an example of how Australia addressed a mass shooting in 1996, where a gunman killed 35 people. “Australia said, ‘we’re not going to have this anymore.’ And so the Australian Government came together, removed semi-automatic pump-action shotguns and rifles from civilian possession as a complete key component of their gun law reforms,” Toussaint said.
Toussaint said that the U.S. government could look at other countries in parallel and use similar policies, but it has not taken this approach. “Here in America, it’s the idea of the Second Amendment, and everyone has the right to own guns,” Toussaint said.
Freshman Grace Whitt, lifetime resident of the Virginia Beach area, referred to an April 28 incident at Kempsville High School.
She said that a retired PE teacher “was arrested for trespassing with a loaded AK-47 in his car, hatchets and axes, which is crazy because he used to work there, and I used to go to school in that area, and I knew a ton of people who went to school in that area.” She said this happened where she once practiced softball every day.
Sophomore Christopher Mercer-Garrett, a Kempsville High School alumnus, said, “The school officials always manage to sweep things under the rug. This year’s incident was just an example of what happens when institutions do not hold people accountable. Back in 2022, during my junior year of high school, a firearm was confiscated, and parents weren’t notified until after the school day had ended. This was intentionally done to prevent parents from asking questions of how the incident was possible.”
Whitt pointed to concerns about how this may affect her career. “I wanted to do teaching in the future, but I’m honestly scared to go into that profession, specifically because I know that now my life and my students’ lives might be put on the line because somebody had a bad day,” Whitt said.
Hafermann suggested that colleges inform international students on what to do in the case of a firearm incident on campus, “I wouldn’t feel really prepared if something would happen,” she said.
“I feel like Wesleyan has handled being proactive in the best way that they can with having security here and having only one entrance. But I feel like if something were to truly happen, then it would definitely be reactionary and probably lacking,” Whitt said. She said that safety measures on campus contribute to alleviating concerns, but she feels there is more that could be done.
| A parent’s perspective from abroad
Barbara Lennon, mother of international student Meena Lennon, offered her own thoughts: “It looks bizarre for it to be legal to possess guns from the perspective of Europeans,” Barbara Lennon, a parent of a VWU international student, said. Lennon said she is concerned over firearm violence in America. “They are vulnerable because of the excitability of their youth and the absence of parental protection and possible lack of experience to deal with harmful scenarios,” she said. |
Isaac Fick|Marlin Chronicle
By Meena Lennon
