EMU President Eyes Gun Reform
Swartzendruber Visits D.C. To Lobby
Posted: February 5, 2013
HARRISONBURG — Eastern Mennonite University President Loren Swartzendruber traveled to the nation’s capital Monday alongside 24 other college and university heads to lobby members of Congress to pass “common sense” gun legislation.
Since the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead, including 20 children, more than 350 college and university presidents, including Swartzendruber, have signed an open letter calling for “rational gun safety measures.”
This week’s trip emphasized the same issues laid out in that letter.
The group is lobbying Congress to support legislation that would require criminal background checks for every gun purchaser, reinstate a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and make gun trafficking a federal crime.
The presidents were joined by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and representatives from the United States Student Association, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and Mayors Against Illegal Guns at an event laying out those goals Monday at a Washington, D.C., hotel.
In an email, Beth Breeding, communications director for Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said that Swartzendruber and the congressman had a meeting scheduled for today.
“He looks forward to meeting with President Swartzendruber from EMU tomorrow to hear his concerns on this issue,” Breeding wrote in the email.
Contact Emily Sharrer at 574-6286 or esharrer@dnronline.com
Since the Dec. 14 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead, including 20 children, more than 350 college and university presidents, including Swartzendruber, have signed an open letter calling for “rational gun safety measures.”
This week’s trip emphasized the same issues laid out in that letter.
The group is lobbying Congress to support legislation that would require criminal background checks for every gun purchaser, reinstate a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and make gun trafficking a federal crime.
The presidents were joined by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and representatives from the United States Student Association, International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators and Mayors Against Illegal Guns at an event laying out those goals Monday at a Washington, D.C., hotel.
In an email, Beth Breeding, communications director for Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke, said that Swartzendruber and the congressman had a meeting scheduled for today.
“He looks forward to meeting with President Swartzendruber from EMU tomorrow to hear his concerns on this issue,” Breeding wrote in the email.
Contact Emily Sharrer at 574-6286 or esharrer@dnronline.com