By Allie Bidwell

Washington

College presidents from across the country and the U.S. secretary of education, Arne Duncan, called on Congress on Monday to push for “common sense” gun-reform legislation.

The presidents met at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities’ annual meeting here to share ideas for legislation they said would help curb gun violence on college campuses. Such legislation, they said, should include requiring criminal background checks for all gun buyers, banning military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and making gun trafficking a federal crime.

Following the mass shooting in December at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, Lawrence M. Schall, president of Oglethorpe University, helped write an open letter to legislators advocating rational gun-safety measures. Some 350 other college presidents have signed the letter...read more