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.
”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.
