Source: The Xavierite
On Friday, September 22, President Biden announced the creation of the Office Of Gun Violence Prevention, an office meant to further Biden’s gun safety initiative and support the states as they regulate the sale and use of firearms.
As the 2024 election draws near, the Biden administration sought out the opinions of young voters and asked about their biggest concerns. The two popular answers were gun safety and student debt. In response, Biden has created the Office Of Gun Violence Prevention to address this concern and potentially aid his reelection campaign.
This office, overseen by Vice President(VP) Kamala Harris, is a follow-up to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) which expanded mental health services in schools and gave funding to create healthier learning environments.
Stefanie Feldman will serve as director of the office while Greg Jackson and Rob Wilcox will serve as deputy directors. Feldman has served Biden for over a decade in various advising and domestic roles. She also worked with the Obama-Biden administration.
Additionally, Jackson and Wilcox have personal experiences with gun violence and are eager to make real changes in the nation’s firearm laws.
According to President Biden, he will “…continue to urge Congress to take commonsense actions that the majority of Americans support… But in the absence of that sorely needed action, the Office of Gun Violence Prevention along with the rest of my Administration will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart.”
Here at SXU, public safety oversees campus security and student safety. Public safety officers patrol the main campus 24/7, with their office active throughout the night. They are also accessible through emergency phones, which are posted around campus and marked by blue lights.
When contacted for a statement, Public Safety did not provide a response, though they have made their policies known through the school website and sent out an annual security report detailing the last three years of campus activity.
While detailed, the safety report says little about their shooter response plan. All the information on their page details how staff and students should prepare for, respond to, and assess an active shooting, showing how much thought public safety has put into all aspects of an active shooter scenario.
With the introduction of the Office Of Gun Violence Prevention, public safety may receive the help it needs to double down on its preparations, whether it be increased safety facilities or improvements to the campus security system.
Likewise, the Office Of Gun Violence Prevention may provide SXU with more resources. Mental health can play a large role in gun violence. Some students who have not received the proper mental health support they needed, have reacted in ways that can be harmful to others. It is important to educate students on what to do if they feel as if there is a threat to themselves or others.
Some actions people can take to help prevent gun violence in schools include spreading awareness on these matters and creating certain drills to help create an action plan to prepare students in case these situations arise. The awareness of others can create a safe space for people to speak up about situations they may have been through.
Two Pacelli residents, Antoine Arnold and Faruk Sulaimon, spoke about their views on campus security. They believe that in Warde and Pacelli, there is a blatant lack of security presence and that “literally anybody could walk in” Arnold added. Sulaimon stated that the right person could “get into classes and blend in” if they wanted to.
Part of this is due to the fact that Saint Xavier is an open campus, making it difficult to regulate who is on campus at any given time of the day.
With a notoriously high crime rate, citizens of Chicago and its surrounding neighborhoods often fear for their lives. With the introduction of the Office Of Gun Violence Prevention, America will hopefully be able to curb increasing mortality rates and ensure safety for students nationwide.
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