Someone fired a gun in my son’s Tarleton dorm

Most mornings, I like to scroll through my Facebook newsfeed while I enjoy a cup of coffee.

Like many Americans, I have unfortunately grown used to constant news stories covering gun violence.

Still, nothing prepared me for coming across a story about the unintentional discharge of a firearm in my son’s dormitory building at Tarleton State University.

I moved my son onto campus on Aug. 27, and just 19 days into the school year, Texas experienced its first unintentional discharge of a handgun brought into the dorm under the new campus carry law.

Thankfully, no one was hurt this time. But it terrifies me to know that there are still guns in the building where my son and so many other young people reside every day.

As a volunteer with the Texas chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, I strongly opposed guns on campus and worked alongside many other concerned Texans to fight the new law’s passage.

I attended hearings in Austin to listen to the testimony of students, parents, professors and campus security. I made phone calls to as many lawmakers as I possibly could to tell them how guns on campus would make our universities more dangerous.

As a mom, I worried about how the presence of guns on campus could result in potential “accidents” when combined with well-known college-life risks such as alcohol and drugs.

After listening to all of the testimony from stakeholders against guns on campus , I felt certain that our lawmakers would have no choice but to keep guns off of our campuses. I was wrong.

In June 2015, Gov. Greg Abbott signed guns on campus into law, with a concession for universities and colleges to identify sensitive places where handguns should be prohibited.

A few lawmakers who appeared to be sympathetic to my worries reassured me that there were few permit holders who attended public universities, and most universities would keep guns out of sensitive places like dorms.

Tarleton State University is one of the few schools that requires students to live on campus for two years. Unlike the University of Texas at Austin, Tarleton chose not to ban guns in dorms.

I was so frightened by the prospect of guns on campus that I urged school administrators to allow my son the right to live off campus this year — to no avail.

The school repeatedly reminded me how very few 21-year-olds actually live on campus, which greatly reduced the number of permit holders my son would encounter.

As I moved my son on campus, I did my best to console myself with those numbers. The odds did seem small enough that guns would not impact his time at school.

I was wrong again.

I think most moms can imagine how I felt when I looked at my phone and saw the news about the unintentional discharge in his dorm. In that instant, all those statistics that lawmakers and school administrators repeated to me became worthless.

All it takes is one mistake to change lives in a devastating way.

I’m not going to indulge in “I told you so.” Instead, I’m going to start calling on Texas lawmakers to make public safety a priority.

Tarleton State should follow the example of other Texas universities and keep guns out of student dormitories.

Students in public universities should have the right to opt out of living in a building where guns are allowed, just as I have the right to not shop in a store that allows guns on its property.

My husband and I did not have the opportunity to go to college. We are over the moon that our child does.

He is thriving in college, even making straight A’s his first year. This is an amazing experience for him and our family.

I find it incredibly sad that, thanks to the Texas Legislature, instead of just experiencing sheer joy over his accomplishments, we are spending our spare time fighting for his safety and the safety of all students attending public universities in Texas.

This story was originally published September 28, 2016 at 4:56 PM with the headline "Someone fired a gun in my son’s Tarleton dorm."