UPDATE: The attack was, in fact, carried out with a car and knife, police say.
A shooting was reported this morning on the campus of Ohio State University, a college that has banned guns from its grounds.
CBS 2 reports:
At least 8 people have reportedly been injured in a mass shooting at Ohio State University.
Columbus Fire Department officials tell CBS affiliate WBNS that 8 people have been transported to area hospitals.
Seven of those patients were reportedly stable, at least one of them critical.
Law enforcement says one suspect has been shot and is dead and that they are looking for a second suspect.
Ohio State University students and others on campus are prohibited from protecting themselves with firearms due to state law.
The university tweeted an alert to students, urging them to “Run Hide Fight.”
Buckeye Alert: Active Shooter on campus. Run Hide Fight. Watts Hall. 19th and College.
— OSU Emergency Mngmnt (@OSU_EMFP) November 28, 2016
According to ArmedCampuses.org:
Ohio state law prohibits the carrying of concealed firearms on any premises owned or leased by any public or private college, university, or other institution of higher education, unless the handgun is in a locked motor vehicle or the licensee is in the immediate process of placing the handgun in a locked motor vehicle. See Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2923.126(B)(5)
In 2014, OSU students sued the university over the policy, claiming their rights were being infringed upon.
A year later, an Ohio professor defended the gun-free policy.
“Ohio House Bill 48, the “Guns Everywhere” bill, would allow concealed-carry permit holders to carry handguns in currently restricted places such as airports, day cares and college campuses,” University of Cincinnati history professor John McNay wrote in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
As university and college faculty, our focus is especially on our campuses, although we are also concerned about this broader proliferation of weapons because it has not been accompanied by any proportionate safeguards against their abuse. Campuses have been gun-free zones because, nationally and historically, the presence of firearms has been regarded as incompatible with the publicly mandated mission of higher education. Everyone should be able to teach and to learn without intimidation or fear. The proponents of “campus carry” suggest that it might pre-empt the still-uncommon incidents of mass murder on campuses. But they ignore the daily toll of knowing that any confrontation, even over routine or petty issues, could much more easily escalate into violence.
“There is no evidence that allowing handguns on campuses actually will help resolve active-shooter situations. Concealed-carry licensees are not trained law enforcement professionals, and mass shootings are highly chaotic events. What happens when many people are drawing firearms and no one knows who the aggressor is?” he wrote.
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