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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Wide-Awake Students Keep Campuses Safe



      Hats off to the informant.
       Few people would like to be labeled an “informant.” It sounds sneaky, disloyal. But the concerned student who informed police about a University of New Mexico sophomore suspected of possessing firearms on campus did a service for thousands of people who work and study at UNM every day.
       Nineteen-year-old Kevin Boyar might just have been playing for attention if, as the informant told police, he once pulled an AK-47-style assault rifle out from under the bed in his dorm room and showed it to friends. He could have been striking a pose if he said he owned a sniper kit and had studied the Columbine and Virginia Tech shootings, and could have done them better. The Nazi posters and literature in his dorm room could have all been for effect ... or not.
       Fortunately, the truth about this young man's intentions won't have to be tested in real life on the UNM campus. It will be probed in a courtroom, where Boyar faces four misdemeanor charges for carrying a firearm on university premises and tampering with evidence. Police did not find a weapon in his dorm room, but they discovered a shotgun, two assault-type rifles, a .22-caliber rifle and supplies of ammunition at his mother's home. She told police her son had brought the weapons home from campus within the previous 48 hours. The shotgun had been purchased within the past week.
       A number of students have now told investigators they saw guns in Boyar's dorm room but said nothing about it. Elaborate systems of alarms and safety drills can't make campuses safe if students and faculty are unwilling to tip off authorities to weapons or frightening behavior.
       Our fellow human beings are still the best security system available.
      

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