Mayor anticipates no firearm policy changes following Fairbanks library shooting

Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Karl Kassel does not anticipate any policy changes following an apparent accidental shooting that injured a patron at the Noel Wien Public Library Wednesday. Police suspect a gun accidentally discharged, and in comments at a Borough assembly last night, Mayor Kassel said the incident has generated a lot of feedback.

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”Raised quite a bit of concern in the community,” Kassel said. “There’s a multitude of different ideas. Folks get excited about this sort of thing. I think I would if I accidentally got shot sitting in the library.”

Guns are banned at some public facilities, like schools, but there’s minimal security to ensure compliance. Mayor Kassel said keeping guns out a facility like the library, would be a major undertaking.

“We have to follow state statute if we want to do that,” Kassel said. “It’s pretty onerous and it requires setting up screening stations, designating a specific area that would be firearm-free, screening like you would have going to the airport.”

Mayor Kassel noted that the incident was the first ever at a borough facility, adding that the library is probably the least likely of borough facilities, which include numerous parks and recreation venues, to have a shooting accident. Fairbanks police are trying to locate a person who was sitting at the table where the library patron was shot.

Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.

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