Local group wants gun safety class moved

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Additionally, the instructor brings numerous unloaded firearms for assembly and cleaning demonstration purposes.

The course fulfills a requirement to take the exam needed for the purchase and ownership of firearms. At the conclusion of the class, participants receive a certificate of completion “suitable for framing.”

The letter drafted by the neighborhood council lists eight potential issues that support the idea that teaching a course like this on a college campus is not a good idea.

One of the group’s arguments is a passage from the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995, where the general public is not expecting weapons on campus, nor are permitted, except for law enforcement.

Other points included in the letter are that several trustees of the LA Community College District board, including Scott Svonkin, as well as some officers in the Pierce sheriff’s station, were unaware that such a class takes place on campus, and that there is no visible signage warning passers-by that a gun safety class is in session. “If someone [tried] to keep the information from us, it is a serious breach of ethical behavior,” said Svonkin. “It doesn’t meet with the values of Pierce and the Los Angeles Community College District.”

However, Gerry Koehler, who teaches the class, said that before the course came into fruition, he spoke with the head of the LA community college sheriff’s division to get it approved. He also said that on the first day that he taught the course, he stopped by Pierce’s sheriff’s station to get his weapons checked out by the officers.

“I am annoyed that the council would make a big stink about one person’s animosity towards guns and gun safety,” he said. “It’s a perfectly safe class. The weekend sheriffs know exactly what’s going on because they have to open up the doors for us.”

Koehler also doesn’t agree with the neighborhood council’s issue with the lack of signage on the classroom to warn other people on campus at the time of the class.

“Anybody else doesn’t need to know,” he said. “It could make us a target.”

The Council does acknowledge that gun safety is imperative to gun ownership and does not question one’s right to legal gun ownership; however, the members feel that providing this class on a densely populated public campus with other classes, youth activities and other activities is inappropriate, alarming and potentially unsafe.

As evidenced by the council’s divided vote, not all the members agreed with the idea of requesting that the class be moved.

Koehler started the course in Los Angeles Harbor College a year before he began offering it at Pierce.

To read more about the gun class, go to www.roundupnews. com under news

Incident Report 5/02 - 5/10

-- Compiled by Michaia Hernandez

5/02 -- Vandalism -- A bench seat in the Botanical Gardens was broken off the railings and pulled from its cemented poles.

5/06 -- Vehicle vandalism

Someone slashed two of the tires on a student’s vehicle in Parking Lot 7 between 6:50 and 9:45 p.m.

5/09 -- Student incident -- A student parked at a red zone in Parking Lot 1 became angry after a deputy informed him at 8:20 p.m. that he wasn’t in a drop off zone.

5/09 -- Miscellaneous incident -- A Pierce College employee reported that one or more horses got sick after eating straw that someone threw into their stables.