A new student organization regarding gun control is beginning to form on campus, with the intention to educate and protect community members, Student Government Association Senator Ishan Sharma said.
Sharma, a junior biology major and president of SGA’s Village Relations Committee, will be the director of the organization. He said that its main goal is to educate students and “provide a safe space.”
“We have in recent years seen gun violence become so frequent in the news,” Sharma said, adding that the news of the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting “shook” him, but sparked his interest in gun control.
Dr. Elizabeth Redwine, a lecturer in the University’s English department, said she got the idea to initiate this new organization after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“We’re in a mental health crisis,” said Redwine, who has four children attending high school. “It’s traumatizing. It’s so scary and feels out of control,” she said.
The organization would be based on the national gun control organizations, such as March For Our Lives and Students Demand Action, Redwine said.
Redwine said that she wants this new organization to be “as open and welcoming as possible,” and doesn’t want the organization to be too political. The organization could be a way to help cope and heal from gun violence trauma, she said.
The organization is “welcome to anyone” regardless of political affiliation, Sharma said.
Currently, the unnamed organization is in its “planning phase,” with the current goals to gauge student interest, research how gun control is regulated at Seton Hall, and see how other campuses handle gun control, Sharma said.
Emma Thumann can be reached at emma.thumann@student.shu.edu.
