When a college student shot and killed 32 of his peers (and injured many more) at Virginia Tech, the Creighton community organized several prayer services, a sympathy banner from the student government and gold and maroon support ribbons to express solidarity with the greater collegiate community.

Less than a year later, when another college student gunned down five of his peers at Northern Illinois University, Dr. John Cernech sent an e-mail asking students to subscribe to the university’s emergency broadcast system.

The discrepancy between the two situations should alarm every student. The lack of organized discussions and proactive responses means that we as a community are becoming desensitized to the all too real world outside of Creighton.

Maybe after our Von Maur massacre – when Omaha asked “Why us?” – the Creighton community became immune to the horrors of gun violence. We had our tragedy and passed on this one.

However, when we ignore such atrocities and the discomfort they cause, we silently accept them as another incident in an unchangeable world.

We may proclaim, “never again,” but until we dialogue about the causes and the ramifications of these crimes and address realistic solutions, statistics will continue to emerge.

Opening dialogue and addressing realistic solutions does not mean extending conceal-and-carry laws for handguns onto campus, which would only add to the hysteria.

Nor does it mean the installation of metal detectors and physical barriers.

Creighton needs a daily mass movement of people traveling on campus. To restrict the free flow of people would threaten the integrity of the college as an effective academic institution.

In other words, as a university community, we can never be completely safe and secure in a personal, bullet-proof bubble.

There are, however, other actions in which we as a community can participate to better ensure our awareness and security.

First, the Creighton Students Union should organize a solidarity drive that models the Virginia Tech event from last year, including a mass sympathy card with student, faculty and staff signatures. (NIU colors are cardinal and black for support ribbons.)

Second, Campus Ministry should hold a prayer service. Last year, it took two days for the vigil to be organized, so the service should be held next week, before spring break.

Third, and most important, students should write, and the administration should lobby, our state and federal representatives asking for stricter gun control laws.

The fact the ammunition used by both the NIU killer and the VT killer originated from the same online company should not be overlooked. Gun control laws need vast reform, including greater restrictions on semi-automatic firearms and the creation of state permits for handgun sales.

While a prayer service and a campus sympathy card comfort people in times of crises, gun control reform will provide tangible and lasting evidence that this horror was not overlooked.

These suggestions merely begin the discussion we should be having. All members of the Creighton community must decide for themselves whether to participate or to ignore their opportunity to affect the world in which they live.