On last night’s podcast (which you can subscribe to here), I read a letter from a female college student who was begging to be allowed to carry a concealed weapon on campus.
I’m a UT-Arlington student. (I’m taking off this semester, but I’m returning in August.) I have to walk, by myself, across several parking lots. The campus is wide open to anybody who wishes to show up. Cooper Street, which basically runs right down the middle of the school, is a large and public road open to anybody who’d like to drive down it.
And though many of the people who live in the numerous houses near the campus are wonderful, law-abiding citizens…some of them are not. Not every person in the surrounding neighborhood is a good guy or gal. The criminals who live right off campus have very easy, free access to the unarmed students who are in the parking lots and on the streets.
There aren’t enough campus police officers to personally escort every student all over the campus. Until or unless we each have armed escorts, we’re responsible for protecting ourselves. But right now, legislation and school policies make this difficult. Very difficult.
Because, quite frankly, I have no delusion about what would happen if I were confronted by a criminal armed with a handgun. I have…pepper spray and a folding knife. Oh, yes, those are highly effective against handgun-wielding purse snatchers, rapists, school shooters and other, miscellaneous thugs.
This is not fair. I haven’t done anything wrong, but the law puts me at a distinct disadvantage re: my own protection. The State of Texas licensed me to carry a loaded .45 at church, in Wal-Mart, and at the hobby shop. But I cannot carry that same gun to classes. I’m the same law-abiding citizen no matter where I go, but for some reason, I am not worthy of self protection when I’m attempting to better myself through higher education.
I wrote about gun-free zones here, and still feel the same way. By disallowing the right to defend yourself, you are creating a high density population of victims. Students should not be banned from effective self-defense. The anti-gun lobby is powerful though, and even lawmakers in red-states like Oklahoma are wary of returning gun rights to students:
After strong protests, Oklahoma Senate leaders decided Monday to shelve a bill to allow military veterans and others with firearms training to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.
Sen. Mike Johnson, a Republican, said he and Sen. Johnnie Crutchfield, a Democrat, made a joint decision to leave the bill off the agenda of the committee that would debate the measure.
…
University presidents, faculty members and students had loudly opposed the measure, which sponsors said would improve campus security. Educators said it would have the opposite effect.
University of Oklahoma President David Boren had argued the bill would hurt recruitment of students and faculty. It also would pose a dilemma for police trying to determine whether a person wielding a weapon was a “deranged gunman or someone who thinks he is doing good vigilante work.”
Here’s a clue for these nitwits: “deranged gunmen” don’t use cover and concealment. They just come right at you. Let’s look at this logic another way. According to the powers that be, it is too dangerous for a person to carry a weapon, because if there is a shooter killing people on campus, the person with the ability to defend themselves might get shot by the police. So, instead, he will just get shot by the “deranged gunman” because he has been disarmed.
Brilliant.
Rep. Jason Murphey, a Republican, had introduced the campus gun bill. He said college officials used fear tactics against his measure, and he disputed their claim that it would have increased security problems.
Murphey and others argued that properly trained people with concealed handguns could avert deadly episodes like one last year that left 33 dead, counting the shooter, at Virginia Tech.
“If we can’t trust our veterans, who can we trust?” he asked.
Leftists and liberals don’t trust our veterans. That is why they push for bills like the Veterans Disarmament Bill. And the media is a willing shill for anti-gunners. Anytime there is a shooting, they cover the “deranged gunman” aspect, but ignore the shooter who stops the assault.
The press ignores the fact that often guns save lives.
It’s what happened in 2002 at the Appalachian School of Law. Hearing shots, two students went to their cars, got their guns and restrained the shooter until police arrested him.
Likewise, law professor Glenn Reynolds writes, “Pearl, Miss., school shooter Luke Woodham was stopped when the school’s vice principal took a .45 from his truck and ran to the scene. In (last) February’s Utah mall shooting, it was an off-duty police officer who happened to be on the scene and carrying a gun”.
It’s impossible to know exactly how often guns stop criminals. Would-be victims don’t usually report crimes that don’t happen. But people use guns in self-defense every day. The Cato Institute’s Tom Palmer says just showing his gun to muggers once saved his life.
Give the kids their guns back before another one dies. They have the right to bear arms also, and they are in a gun free shooting gallery. In fact, arm and train the faculty. If they don’t want a gun, they don’t have to have one. But allow those who do the access they need to defend themselves, and their students.
Hat Tip: Alphecca
