A Washington D.C. suburb dodged a literal bullet this week when Montgomery County, Md., police followed up on a tip after a Clarksburg High School resource officer found a loaded handgun in the bookbag of student Alwin Chen.
After the resource officer’s discovery, police found an AR-15 style rifle, a shotgun, two handguns, ammunition, a tactical vest, a detonator for landmines, and a list of grievances against other students and the school. Chen was arrested and charged with possession of a handgun, possession of a firearm by a person under 21, and possession of a firearm on school property. He is currently being held without the opportunity to post bond after Montgomery District Judge John C. Moffett said that Chen “presents a serious danger to the community.”
This arrest came less than a week after the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead and 15 others injured. The shooter used an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle. The FBI later acknowledged after the shooting that they had received a tip about the shooter and failed to relay it to their Miami field office.
In the case of Alwin Chen, the police and school properly enforced existing gun laws to ensure that the student did not become an active shooter on campus.
Some commentators blame the Parkland shooting on Florida’s lax gun laws. By comparison, Maryland has stricter guns laws than most states, yet those didn’t stop Chen from acquiring his arsenal.
The key difference between what happened in Parkland and Clarksburg is the role of law enforcement. If the resource officer reported the tip and law enforcement officers subsequently failed to follow proper protocol, then we could possibly be mourning another mass shooting in the near future at Clarksburg High School.
Siraj Hashmi is a commentary video editor and writer for the Washington Examiner.
