Since 2013, there have been at least 153 school shootings in America–an average of nearly one per week, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, an independent, non-partisan group that advocates for gun reform, in its Oct. 23 report. The group has tracked every school shooting since the 2012 incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults.

A chilling omission to be added to the Everytown tally is a fatal shooting reportedly prompted by a dice game that left one person dead on the campus of Tennessee State University late last Thursday.

The report also counts the Oct. 9 shooting at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, which killed one and injured three, as the 52nd shooting on school grounds and not in self-defense this year, and the 23rd on a college campus.

The situations resonate strongly with officials of Northland Pioneer College, who discussed the issue of local campus safety and security during an Oct. 20 retreat for the Navajo County Community College District Governing Board.

NPC President Dr. Jeanne Swarthout queried the board on how the school’s weapons policy can be better defined, particularly in light of Arizona’s current legislation, which permits firearms to be carried while concealed in the dorms and classrooms of its higher education institutions.

“We have uniformed security people on campus, so they’re recognized. They also don’t want to be armed, and we don’t want them to be. But that’s not much security,” said Board President Ginny Handorf.

She cited the recently launched No Notoriety campaign, aimed at discouraging news coverage of mass gun violence, noting that the publicity attached to such events is often what inspires them and also encourages repeat incidents.

“Schools, malls, churches are what the military calls target rich environments, and that means that nobody there can defend themselves. It’s like going to the carnival and shooting anybody you want for any reason and becoming famous, at least momentarily.

“Our school is a target rich environment. I feel we would be remiss to not discuss it, without allowing all guns on our campuses. Since we have security people who could be equipped to be armed, there ought to be a dedicated number that students can call for help in an emergency,” Handorf said.

The board members acknowledged that law enforcement arrival times to 911 emergency dispatch calls are historically slower than average throughout Navajo County simply due to the comparatively limited number of police staffed to patrol its nearly 10,000 rural square miles.

Vice President of Administrative Services Blaine Hatch said he favored situational emergency response training for students and faculty, and reinforcing the integrity of the school’s automated communication and physical security systems.

“There are things that are on our list to improve the communication aspect, to do better things with our telephones. We already have our computer desktop alerting system. We could do things like secure our doors to make it easier to engage a lockdown if necessary,” he said.

The board also acknowledged that the school has a very low incidence of recorded crimes across its campuses district-wide and year after year, noting from its campus crime report single instances of automotive burglary, petty theft and alcohol offenses, as well as police drug confiscation occurring during roadside traffic stops diverted into NPC parking lots, which is required to be documented as contiguous to the campus.

Swarthout asked Arizona Community College Coordinating Council lobbyist Kristen Boilini and NPC lobbyist Michael Racy, who presented a legislative update to the board, whether the Arizona Senate is expected to revisit the campus gun-carry law during its upcoming legislative session.

“It will be introduced for show. It’s an election year; all those who are proponents of that side will want to have that on their scorecards. But we don’t see it going anywhere, we expect it to be the same,” they said.