Letters: Gun bans won’t make colleges safer

Re “Community college district bans guns from its 9 campuses,” Aug. 11

The Times writes that a mass shooting at and around Santa Monica College in June “renewed debate that had begun after the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech over whether to allow guns on college campuses.” It is difficult to understand why.

Did the absence of a gun ban contribute to this shooting? Would one have prevented John Zawahri from entering the campus with an assault rifle and gunning down innocent bystanders? If actual laws against possessing these weapons and shooting innocent people — laws that carry severe penalties — did not dissuade this gunman, why would anyone think that a mere school regulation might do the trick?

The only thing the Los Angeles Community College District’s gun ban will do is ensure that the next homicidal maniac who enters a campus bent on mass murder will not be met with armed resistance.

Todd Green

Newport Beach

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