By Lillian Lewis
On Aug. 28 at UNC-Chapel Hill, students and faculty were put under lockdown in fear of an active shooter on campus with little information coming through. Later, they would find out that Dr. Zijie Yan, a professor at UNC was shot and killed by his student Tailei Qi, a graduate student who worked alongside Yan.
Not long after, UNC had a second lockdown with an armed person present at their student union. Students were on lockdown for an hour. The suspect was Mickel Deonte Harris and has been suspected to be employment-related.
There are mixed feelings about how UNC has handled these situations. Some students have participated in marches and are now inside NC legislatures begging for gun control.
This is not an uncommon frightening opinion. Six in ten adults believe gun violence is a major problem in America. Another six in ten adults believe that there should be stricter gun laws.
However, some think UNC has done a good job handling this difficult situation. Dezarae Churchill is an alumni of William Peace University and is now continuing her education at UNC Chapel Hill in journalism.
“I feel like UNC handled it the best that they could. I feel like the biggest thing that they should have done is be more in communication,” said Churchill.
The tragedy of gun violence does not just start at UNC, it is an issue all across America. In 2020, the leading cause of death for children and teens was gun violence. There were 313 casualties by active shooting incidents according to the U.S. Department Of Justice in 2022 compared to 243 in 2021.
It is also important to note that there are different definitions of mass killing or shootings from different organizations. This can affect the number of mass shootings and killings reported in different studies and how it is reported in the news.
In 2019 the number of mass shootings was 419 according to Gun Violence Archive. In 2020 that number jumped to 610 and has not lowered from 600 since.
There have been debates about why these tragedies happen. Caleb Hussman, WPU professor of political science, has his own theory.
“I think that sick infamy is a motivator for a lot of people,” said Husmann. “There’s a social contagion element, which is scary and sick and wrong, but that’s a problem.”
Another possible explanation, Husmann said, is related more to the weapons themselves.
“The United States has more gun ownership than any other country,” he said.
According to a poll from Gallup, 44% of Americans live in a gun ownership house with 32% of Americans personally owning a gun.
North Carolina saw an increase of 120.8 percent in firearm-related death rates among youth from 2019 through 2021 according to North Carolina Health News.
In March, North Carolina made it legal to purchase a pistol without a permit from a local sheriff. Gun owners who purchase pistols from a gun store or a federally licensed dealer still have to have a national background check. Concealed weapons permits are also still required.
These issues also affect the people close to them. Chadwick Bryant, a student at Peace, knew someone who attends UNC and had contact with them during the incident.
“I didn’t like the way they said it and seemed like it was like a school shooting situation,” said Bryant. “It was just like, there was like a shooting down the road. But then, pretty much they kind of made it clear that like, Hey, it’s serious. We’re on lockdown.”