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Firearms Banned At All LA Community College Campuses

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — All campuses in the Los Angeles Community College District are now gun-free zones.

The District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a resolution Wednesday prohibiting firearms on its nine campuses "to the maximum extent allowable by law," according to District spokesman Steve Springer.

Citing "repeated, serious occurrences of campus-based shootings" including the shootings at Santa Monica College in June, the resolution (PDF) states "the presence of firearms, even when nonoperational and in the instructional setting, lends itself to the potential for panic and fear."

The District's Administration of Justice and Criminal Justice classes offering firearms education and training are now conducted at off-site locations, eliminating any need for guns at the nine colleges, the resolution's author, Board of Trustees vice-president Scott Svonkin told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.

Scott Svonkin

"We did not want community members coming on campus to an NRA-supported class if they were going to bring guns to demonstrate for these people in the community on how to use guns," Svonkin said.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department currently provides law enforcement services for the nine campuses.

The Los Angeles Community College District is the nation's largest community college district, serving over a quarter million students a year in more than 36 cities in Los Angeles County at its nine campuses.

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