Be that as it may, there was nothing serene about what happened at NAU on Friday. According to witnesses, an 18-year old freshman and fraternity pledge was with two of his friends when an argument began with members of another fraternity. The argument became physical, and at that point the freshman went to his car and grabbed a .40 caliber handgun. He returned to the scene of the squabble, and allegedly shot four of the other students, one of them fatally. He has been charged with first degree murder, and three counts of aggravated assault.
All the details have yet to emerge, and the student’s guilt has yet to be established. Having said that, we feel compelled to mention the proliferation of gun violence in United States schools. We can’t ignore the situation. School gun violence, resulting in students and teachers being gunned down in elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across the country, continues to escalate. And the gun lobby continues successfully to block efforts at reforming the gun laws, including those in Arizona, which has some of the more liberal gun laws in America.
- Since 2013, there have been at least 150 school shooting in the United States.
- The shootings have resulted in scores of deaths and non-fatal gunshot wounds.
- About a third of the school shootings resulted in at least one death.
- During the first 11 days of October 2015, there were six separate school shootings, five of which resulted in injury or death.
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