Wei He transferred to the University of Idaho from China two months ago. The cultures are certainly different, especially when it comes to guns, he said. In China, there is a total ban on owning firearms.
Yet, he said he doesn”t feel unsafe in Moscow.
“I”ve met a few people who are really into guns, and who say they have big collections,” He said. “I”m like, “OK “¦ ” It”s kind of weird, but it”s not bad.”
He said though his roommates have told him about recent mass shootings, he just can”t envision something like that happening at UI.
Dave Lehmitz
Unfortunately, Moscow Police Lt. Dave Lehmitz said a mass shooting can occur anywhere.
“Moscow is not immune to an active shooter,” Lehmitz said. “We”ve had them here. It”s happened here twice.”
Lehmitz was referring to the shooting spree that took three lives earlier this year and the 2007 murder-suicide in which a Moscow police officer was also shot and killed.
Lehmitz said he has worked closely with Matt Dorschel, UI executive director of Public Safety and Security, to create crisis-training videos for each college. Most of the videos are primarily informational and aim to teach people about red flags.
“If you see something, say something,” Lehmitz said. “A lot of people don”t understand what that means.”
Dorschel said recent headlines prove mass shootings can happen anywhere, from big cities to small communities. After any mass shooting makes national news, he said he always sees people being more aware of odd, disruptive or aggressive behavior in their community.
There is no mandatory active-shooter training offered by the university, but Dorschel said he”s confident in how the community would react to a crisis.
“We”re prepared to the extent that you can be,” he said. “It doesn”t eliminate the potential of it happening or the potential for bad outcomes, but we value and embrace the openness of our university environment.”
UI student Jake Henggeler was always around guns growing up in rural Idaho. He said firearms can be valuable in the hands of stable people, but when they get into the hands of someone who”s unstable, it”s a problem.
Henggeler said he takes comfort in seeing campus security patrolling all the time, but would feel safer if he knew they were armed.
UI student Leila Riley agrees that guns are only dangerous when they fall into the hands of someone unstable. That”s why she thinks more money should be funneled into mental health.
Lehmitz said something certainly has to change, but he tries to stay out of the gun control debate.
“If I had the answer, I probably wouldn”t be working here,” he said.
Riley said she tends to be paranoid, but she”s never felt unsafe walking across campus. Still, she said she remembers how shocked the community was in the wake of the mass shooting in January.
“Our community is so tight-knit,” Riley said. “It”s not something we think of as a reality.”
Hannah Shirley can be reached at [email protected] on Twitter @itshannah7