“[More restrictions] would help, but there still wouldn’t be a very big drop in shootings,” she said. “Schools should offer more counseling, and connect closely with students to prevent this from happening.”

 

            The informal poll with De Anza students reflects the results of a study by Harris Interactive in April that showed that 77 percent of Americans believe that owning a firearm should come with more restrictions.

 

Harris:77% of Americans Feel Firearm Rights Should Come with Some Restrictions; 14% Favor No Limitations

 

            Nineteen-year-old DASB Executive Vice President Kevin Suarez disagrees.

 

            Suarez said that more restrictions aren’t going to stop shootings, and that the current laws on owning and purchasing firearms should remain the same.

 

            “Gun regulations, at least in California, have not decreased crime,” he said in an interview in De Anza’s main quad

 

            Others are weary that more restrictions on guns would only affect law-abiding gun-owners.

 

             “They mean nothing to a person who is consciously about to break the law,” said San Pham, a 21-year-old business marketing major from San Jose State.

 

            Pham said he disagrees with introducing more restrictions and owns several firearms himself.

           

            A complete ban on guns would be the only way to restrict them, but it is unfeasible since there are so many in the US, Pham said.

 

            While America only accounts for five percent of the world’s population, they own 50 percent of the world’s guns, according to a report by CNN.

 

            Officer Jeff Meade, an officer with the Foothill/De Anza Police Department, said that more restrictions on firearms aren’t the right decision in preventing school shootings.

 

            “Guns… are a lot like drugs, and we’ve done a great job restricting that,” he said sarcastically during an interview over the phone.

 

            “It isn’t about limiting access to guns, it’s about keeping them away from schools,” he said, recalling an incident in 1999 when a student armed with guns and bombs was stopped within hours of committing an attack on De Anza’s campus.

 

            “…[It’s] about looking into people’s pasts who have committed these acts and encouraging people who see things like this to say something.”