Patrick Leahy: “in the 8 months since the horrific incident at Virginia Tech that resulted in the tragic deaths of 32 students, we have…”

“in the 8 months since the horrific incident at Virginia Tech that resulted in the tragic deaths of 32 students, we have witnessed a barrage of new incidents involving threatening conduct and, too often, deadly acts of violence at our schools and college campuses nationwide. Just this past Saturday, police arrested a student at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles on suspicion of posting an anonymous online threat to kill people on campus. The threat appeared on a blog used primarily by college students. It said: ``I am going to shoot and kill as many people as I can until which time I am incapacitated or killed by police.'' Fortunately, police got to this troubled student before he could make good on his threat. But I urge the Senate not to sit back and wait until the next time, when police may not be able to stop a deadly event before it occurs. We must act now to protect our schools and college campuses. Those who perpetrate these terrible crimes know no boundaries. No targets are off limits. This past Sunday, a man killed two people in Arvada, CO, after being refused lodging at a Christian missionary center. Later that day, in Colorado Springs, the same man opened fire outside the New Life Church, taking the lives of two teenaged sisters and leaving a third victim in critical condition. These recent incidents make clear yet again that we must do all we can to ensure that law enforcement is prepared and equipped to respond to such incidents.”