Just days after the horror at Sandy Hook Elementary School, a 23-year-old college student in Connecticut was a victim of another gun-related tragedy. No guns were fired, no one was physically injured, but even so, a life was ruined. William Dong was licensed in Connecticut to carry a concealed handgun. He worked for an armored-car company and, along with being a good student and hard worker, he was a budding firearm enthusiast. Unable to afford an expensive gun safe, Dong secured his small collection of firearms and ammunition in his locked bedroom in his parents’ home.
Being human, Dong was deeply disturbed by the atrocity in Newtown and the subsequent media hype surrounding that tragic event. Like many people, especially those near the event, he developed a fear of something like that happening again and being helpless to do anything about it. He was reassured by his own ability to carry and effectively use a handgun, but also wanted to have a good personal-defense carbine. That’s when William Dong made his first mistake; on a trip to Pennsylvania he purchased a Bushmaster AR-style rifle from a private seller. It’s not illegal to purchase a long gun in another state in a face-to-face transaction, but out-of-state purchases should be made through a licensed dealer. Since the rifle he purchased had a collapsible stock and other “military” features, it was subsequently banned in Connecticut, compounding Dong’s mistake.
As a college student, Dong was worried about a Virginia Tech-style attack at his school, the University of New Haven. Out of concern for that possibility, Dong discreetly carried his licensed handgun concealed on his person while attending classes. This was Dong’s second mistake. Though Connecticut does not have a law specifically banning the carry of firearms on college campuses, the owner or manager of any property can forbid guns and, unlike most states, where violation of such a prohibition is misdemeanor trespassing, in Connecticut it’s a serious felony punishable by up to a $500 fine and up to three years in prison. UNH includes a firearm prohibition in its student code of conduct.
Dong’s third mistake was deciding he was going to take a trip to the range after class one day. He put his rifle and some ammo in his car in preparation for that range session. He parked the car off campus and made a point of placing the rifle out of view behind the driver’s seat before walking to class.
A homeless woman saw the rifle when Dong transferred it to the back seat of his SUV. She then noted that he was headed toward the university campus and, with visions of Sandy Hook dancing in her head, she called the police to report a man with a gun headed toward the campus of UNH. Police and SWAT teams mobilized as Dong hurried to biology class, where he was in the middle of a test when the school went into lockdown. Dong was peacefully taken into custody a few minutes later.
There was never any indication that William Dong planned to harm anyone. He made no threats, had no history of any sort of mental illness, or even reports of odd behavior. By all indications, William Dong was just a guy who enjoyed guns and shooting who had the misfortune of living in the wrong part of the country.
Media, prosecutors, and politicians went into a frenzy, declaring that a tragedy had been averted and referring to Dong as a “gunman,” with blazing headlines calling him a “Gun-Wielding UNH Student,” even though he never “wielded” a gun in the incident. Press accounts made much of the fact that police found 2,700 rounds of ammunition in Dong’s bedroom (which isn’t a lot to an avid shooter) along with newspaper clippings about the Batman movie massacre in Colorado, even pointing to the lock on his bedroom door as an indication of evil intent. Gov. Dannel Malloy quickly claimed Dong’s arrest was proof that the new firearm restrictions he had helped push through the state legislature – on top of laws that were already among the most restrictive in the nation – had worked, never mind that the new laws had little bearing on Dong’s case.
Dong pled guilty to one count of illegal sale and transfer of an “assault weapon” and two counts of illegal possession of a pistol. He was sentenced to eight years, with supervised release after two if he behaves in prison. Now a felon, he loses his right to firearms for life. He still faces prosecution on federal charges for the way he acquired the rifle.
Certainly William Dong made mistakes. His biggest mistake was believing that because he was a “good guy” and had no malicious intent, others would recognize that as well. Being a “good guy” is no defense against public panic.
In most states, had Dong been found with a gun on campus, he might have been kicked out of school and possibly cited for misdemeanor trespass. In most states, 2,700 rounds of ammunition and clippings about a major crime wouldn’t be considered unusual, and certainly not evidence of ill intent. And in most states, an extra lock on a bedroom door where guns and ammunition are stored would be considered prudent and responsible, not suspicious. Unfortunately, William Dong didn’t live in most states, he lived in Connecticut in the wake of a tragedy where children were slaughtered and politicians responded by making bad laws worse and making criminals of innocent people.
I don’t know what was in William Dong’s heart, but I know that the picture the media painted of him could have been a picture of me. I regularly carried a gun in college classes, despite a school policy against doing so. I often kept guns and ammunition in my car on campus, and had more guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition in my bedroom closet. The same was true of most of my college friends. We’d often go shooting three or four times a week, burning through hundreds of rounds on each outing. Luckily for us, we lived in Arizona, not Connecticut, and we lived in a time before one crazy murderer could dominate the media for months ginning up irrational fear and paranoia.
Gun control laws don’t stop lunatic killers, but tragically, they do ruin people’s lives.
Media wishing to interview Jeff Knox, please contact [email protected].
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