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THE Virginia Tech community mourned last week as it remembered the 32 students and faculty killed a year ago by a student gunman who then killed himself. Left behind were sadness, anger and the ultimate conclusion that college campuses aren't as safe as they should be.

The latter has been the driving force behind a local legislative proposal to let some concealed weapons permit holders carry guns on campus. A bill passed the House, but attempts to get it through the Senate have failed. We expect proponents of the bill won't give up and will try to add an amendment to another bill.

Many higher education officials have loudly opposed the idea, fearing it will make campuses more dangerous. That's a common-sense conclusion. But we don't fault the bill's author, Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, for trying to make campuses safer for students and faculty.

Campuses across the state acted almost immediately after the Virginia Tech tragedy to update communication plans, specifically making sure officials could quickly notify students, staff and faculty of safety threats. Gov. Brad Henry also appointed a task force to look at campus safety issues, including mental health help for troubled students.

In January, the Campus Life and Safety Security task force issued a host of recommendations. Allowing more weapons on campus was nowhere on the list. Rather, task force members favored a weapons ban unless authorized by the university or if the weapon is being legally stored inside a vehicle.

But policy matters concerning weapons and communications arguably weren't the most critical part of the task force's work. The Virginia Tech shootings revealed how incredibly inadequate mental health services are for college students there and on campuses throughout the country. Oklahoma is no exception.

A survey found that most college counselors focus on academics and "are not trained to recognize, diagnose or treat forms of mental illness or drug and alcohol abuse or addiction.” Higher education and career technology centers have more than 400 academic counselors but only 57 licensed professional counselors and six licensed and four certified alcohol and drug counselors. The state is not producing enough counselors to meet the current or future need.

Improving emergency preparedness must have the constant attention of policy-makers but so should prevention. Lawmakers advocating for the gun bill would do well to use the same zeal in calling for a stronger mental health safety net for college-age students as a way to head off the violence before even a single life is endangered.