Breaking down gun suicide

The suicide last Tuesday of Colton Tooley, a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, triggered concerns about gun suicide at the collegiate level.

While there is always a possibility for gun suicides to occur, “such an event is not likely to happen at Penn,” said professor Susan Sorenson of Penn’s School of Social Policy and Practice.

Sorenson, who teaches a course on guns and health, explained that although it is futile to look for causal factors of gun violence at Penn — because of the rarity of such an event — the context of nationwide gun suicides could be understood in terms of a victim’s environment.

“Higher prevalence of gun possession in a population is shown to be linked to higher rates of gun suicide,” Sorenson said, as opposed to other means.

“One normally sees a large gun culture where there is a particularly strong valuing of autonomy, mistrust of a governing body and an importance on self-reliance,” she added.

Given the absence of a previous Penn-affiliated gun violence incident and the University policy which prohibits carrying firearms on campus, safety experts do not predict a high probability of a gun suicide occurring at Penn.

“It’s a possibility, but the probability is so low that people should just go on with their lives,” Sorenson said.

While the popularity of firearm possession shapes the frequency of gun suicides, the factors of any incident are difficult to predict, according to Counseling and Psychological Services Director William Alexander.

“The likelihood of a particular gun suicide has more to do with a person’s individual history than their context,” Alexander said.

UT Austin senior and Student Government President Scott Parks agreed that it is difficult to explain why Tooley used firearms to commit suicide.

“The motives for shooting are still unclear, [as Tooley was reported] to have told people to get out of the way inside the library,” Parks said. “Everyone is just really happy that it didn’t go worse than it did.”

Parks lauded the UT Police Department for rapidly responding to the event with alerts sent via text message, which has become the primary means of mitigating a crisis situation “post-Virginia Tech,” according to Jonathan Kassa, executive director for Security on Campus, a non-profit organization that works to enhance college safety.

Kassa, however, emphasized the need for an audit process for university technology systems, as some UT students did not receive the text message alert while some alumni no longer on campus did.

Having recently tested Penn’s Siren Outdoor System, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said she believes the Division of Pubic Safety has actively made strides toward preparing Penn if such an event were to occur.

Rush, however, urged everyone to register for UPennAlert, citing DPS’ motto, “safety and security is a shared responsibility.”

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