CSUN Police Chief Anne P. Glavin joins Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Capitol at a press conference on Thursday, Jan. 24.

California State University, Northridge Chief of Police Anne P. Glavin was among a broad coalition including law enforcement, doctors and clergy to join Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Jan. 24, at a press conference reintroducing legislation to ban assault weapons.

The Feinstein bill seeks to limit the kinds of assault weapons available for sale, while protecting firearms used for hunting and personal protection. Further provisions of the proposed legislation would close the gun show purchase loopholes, require background checks for almost all gun transactions and ban the sale of high capacity ammunition magazines. Feinstein led the effort for a similar ban in 1994, which was successfully passed by Congress but included language that the ban would expire after 10 years.

“I believe this bill is a big step towards ending the mass shootings that have devastated families across the country—from Newton to Aurora, from Tucson to Virginia Tech, from Columbine to Oak Creek,” Feinstein said.

Officials with the National Rifle Association have expressed opposition to the bill saying it violates Americans’ Constitutional rights.

Glavin was personally invited to attend the press conference because of her distinguished career in public safety. She is the president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, a professional association of campus public safety administrators and officers, representing 1200 institutions of higher education in the nation and 2,000 individual members.

“IACLEA has consistently supported reasonable efforts to both preserve legitimate rights under the Second Amendment, and to address the problems of high capacity firearms particularly in the hands of those who are not licensed or trained to handle them,” Glavin said.

Glavin’s career has spanned nearly four decades and blazed a trail for female campus police executives in the United States. On July 31, 2002, she was appointed as the first woman chief of police at California State University, Northridge. Prior to coming to Cal State Northridge, Glavin served as chief of police at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. She served for 27 years in the MIT Police Department, holding all ranks and serving as the chief of police for her last 13 years at the university—the first woman to serve as chief at MIT. In 1987, when she assumed the position, Glavin became the first female chief of a major university department in the country. In 2001, she was promoted to director of public safety in the Office of the Executive Vice President and Treasurer at MIT.

Glavin is recognized for her work in sexual assault prevention and women’s self defense. She is the author of an MIT booklet, Acquaintance Rape: The Silent Epidemic, and was recognized in 1996 with a Susan B. Anthony Award presented by Rape Aggression Defense System program. She is a past president of the National Association of Women Law Enforcement Executives and past president of the Massachusetts Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators. She is also a former commissioner for the Massachusetts Police Accreditation Commission and a former chair of IACLEA’s Accreditation Standards Committee. She earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and a master’s degree in education from Boston University.

Dianne Feinstein, Featured, Gun control