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Virginia slayings raise questions about guns on campus and school shootings overall, Northeastern professor says

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(Shaban Athuman/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)
Students and community members gather for a candlelight vigil after a shooting that left three students dead the night before at the University of Virginia, Monday, Nov. 14, 2022, in Charlottesville, Va.

The slaying of three University of Virginia students on Sunday underscore concerns in the U.S. about access to guns on college campuses and the trend of U.S. school shootings overall.

James Alan Fox, a Northeastern professor who maintains the longest-running and most extensive data source on mass killings, says the recent event in Virginia, where a former university football player allegedly killed three current student-athletes, underscores a worrisome trend over the past 15 years that has enabled people to carry guns on campuses in as many as 40 states.

Fox says prior to the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007—where 32 people, including 27 students, were killed—only Utah permitted people with a concealed carry license to have guns on campuses.

Continue reading at News@Northeastern.

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