Safety changes colleges have made since the Virginia Tech mass shooting
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — April 16, 2007 is a date that’s burned into many minds, including Old Dominion University Police Chief Garrett Shelton.
“I was at the FBI National Academy,” Shelton told 10 On Your Side a day after the 17th anniversary of the mass shooting. “I was in my 17th day. On the front of my desk is my nametag with the dates of 2007 on it.”
Thirty-two innocent students and teachers lost their lives that day. In response, a number of changes have been made to ensure safety on college campuses.
Shelton explained what those changes were, saying there were two main developments.
“One, we needed to get the message out to the community, and there wasn’t a standard in place at universities and colleges to do that,” Shelton said. “From that came the Clery Act, the timely warning and notifications to make sure that when events that are critical to the community happen, that we get the information out to make people aware.”
The LiveSafe app, available in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, was developed as a result.
The app allows schools to notify students of any danger on campus while also allowing students themselves to report any crimes.
“The second [change] was the General Assembly enacted legislation that would require the standing up of threat analysis teams and threat teams were established after 2007,” Shelton said.
Those threat teams use protected information about students, faculty and staff to help prevent shootings at schools.
Shelton told 10 On Your Side that he has taught active shooter drills hundreds of times, and that ODU follows the FBI’s guidelines of run, hide, fight.
But he said another part of their plan includes how to account for the trauma people experience after going through such a horrible event.
“It starts by setting up reunification centers, areas for the family to go, then adding in mental health services, counseling services, health services into that reunification process,” he said. “And then afterwards, it’s the fact that it happened here. It happened to me, and we have to be prepared to deal with that for many years to come.”
There is no perfect ending when it comes to active shooter situations — unless it can be stopped before it happens.
“The only perfect scenario is to stop it before it happens,” he said. “And that’s what we focus on every day of the year.”
On Tuesday, the 17th anniversary of the Virginia Tech mass shooting, U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine introduced legislation, The Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act, aimed at federally putting gun violence prevention measures into place in Virginia.
Here are the main takeaways:
The act seeks to limit the purchase of a handgun to one a month per user.
The proposal also requires gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms to the appropriate authorities within 48 hours.
People would be held liable if a minor gets their hands on their loaded, unsecured gun.
The plan also protects victims of domestic violence by preventing abusive, non-spousal partners from having guns. It would also prevent people convicted of stalking from owning firearms.
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