Gun control discussed at Wednesday’s ‘Trending Topics’

In response to recent mass shootings on college campuses in Oregon and Tennessee, USC students and faculty met Wednesday night for a panel discussion on gun violence and campus safety. “Trending Topics: Gun Control,” part of a monthly current events discussion series, was presented by the USC Speakers Committee, USG External Affairs and the Delta Omicron Zeta fraternity, and featured a panel of speakers that included a gun control activist and a trauma surgeon.

The event was moderated by Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics, who opened by asking what kinds of gun protections existed on campus — and what students could do to reduce gun violence.

Capt. Edgar Palmer, the Administrative Commander for the Department of Public Safety, explained that DPS keeps students safe by taking part in “active shooter” training and working in close partnership with the Los Angeles Police Department. However, Palmer also stressed that safety is equally in the hands of the students, who often put themselves in danger through a lack of awareness.

“To stay safe, you have to be aware of your surroundings,” Palmer said. “I am amazed when I come on campus and see the world that students seem to be in. If you’re not aware and you’re not looking around, it makes it far easier for you to be a victim.”

In stressing vigilance, Palmer encouraged students to react to the things that they saw by reporting any suspicious activity through various channels, including the blue light emergency phones on campus and the new LiveSafe app. According to Palmer, students are often afraid of embarrassing themselves or wasting DPS officers’ time; however, students should not let this stop them from reporting what they see.

“The one thing you don’t report could be the thing that blows into something more significant,” Palmer said. “It’s always better to take a look and have it investigated than to leave it to chance and just hope it turns out not to be bad.”

According to Dr. Kelly Greco, Psy.D., a staff psychologist at the USC Engemann Student Health Center, this prerogative extends not only to suspicious activity seen around campus, but to friends or family who may be a danger to themselves or to others. Greco stressed that gun violence includes suicide as well as homicide, and that preventing gun deaths includes helping students who may be considering self-harm.

“Whenever someone comes in seeking counseling, we ask them about suicide — but we also rely on other people to give us information,” Greco said. “There’s always discussion, but we’re always needing someone to seek us out if they are concerned.”

Seeking help, according to Greco, involves asking someone directly if they’re considering suicide or homicide, as well as looking at whether someone is impaired through alcohol or drug use and may constitute a danger to themselves or other people. Dr. Damon Clark, a leading trauma surgeon at the Keck School of Medicine, explained that the consequences of holding back are dire for all involved.

“We [at Keck] have the experience of taking care of a lot of young individuals who are involved in violence,” Clark said. “It’s not like [what] you see on TV. When someone’s injured, it’s very traumatic. Many people forget the impact that it has on not only the person who is injured physically and emotionally, but also on the family and community that surround that person.”

Schnur then directed the conversation to focus on the extremely divisive issue of the nation’s gun control laws, which has split the nation evenly between those who support more restrictions on gun ownership and those who wish to preserve gun rights. Suzanne Verge, President of the Los Angeles chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, discussed the difficulty of passing gun control legislation when organizations such as the National Rifle Association send lobbyists to block Congressional action.

Verge, who became involved in the fight to increase restrictions on firearms nationwide after a personal family tragedy, described a recent Brady Campaign summit in Washington, D.C., during which she and others involved in the movement listened to the stories of people who had been affected by gun violence.

“This is the only thing that’s going to make a difference, story by story,” Verge said. “My brother was killed in 1978, and it’s still so hard to hear other people’s stories.”