Is the answer to mass shootings on college campuses to arm students and staff? Eight states are considering legislation that would allow people to carry a concealed handgun into the lecture hall, the library or the dorm. Ground zero for the debate is Texas, where a proposed law would remove "premises of higher education" as gun-free zones.
"Right now, so-called gun-free zones, I think, ought to be renamed Victims Zones," says state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, a San Antonio Republican who is sponsoring a bill that would allow handguns on campuses. "I just don't want to see a repeat in Texas of what happened at Virginia Tech."
Wentworth was referring to the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007, when a student killed 32 people on campus and injured many others before turning the gun on himself.
Last September, the University of Texas at Austin had its own scare. Colton Tooley, a 19-year-old math major wearing a dark suit and ski mask, started shooting an AK-47 assault weapon in the air, then ran into a library and committed suicide. No one else was shot. Campus police were praised for their quick response.
Wentworth and other supporters of the proposed law say a citizen with a handgun can possibly take out a campus shooter before police arrive "because when seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
Two years ago, Texas lawmakers rejected a bill allowing concealed-carry on campus. Since then, Republicans have gained a supermajority in the Legislature, and the controversial law has come back stronger than ever.
With 50,000 students, the UT-Austin is one of the biggest schools in the country. Two years ago, the student government, faculty council and President Bill Powers came out against the bill to permit hidden pistols in university buildings; it's legal for license holders to carry on the campus grounds. Powers says his position has not changed.
"Friday night comes on our campus once a week," he says. "Mixing youth, handguns and partying is, in my view, a mix for serious concerns about safety on campus."
On a recent morning, Corey Zipperer, a 21-year-old psychology major, heads to the state Capitol to lobby officials to pass the bill. A spokesman for the Longhorn chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, he discreetly straps on a .38 Special.
"We get the mature thing a lot — that college students aren't mature enough. And the alcohol thing — that we're all just boozed up all the time," Zipperer says.
In Texas, he points out, to get a concealed handgun license, a person must be 21 years old, have a clean record and no psychiatric disorders, and take a 10-hour instruction course that includes time at a firing range.
"If people think that 21-year-olds are too immature to get a license, it sounds like they have a problem with the whole concept," he says.
When John Woods moved on from Virginia Tech to graduate school in Austin, he thought he had left behind the rampage that killed two of his friends. When the Texas Legislature took up guns on campus, the 26-year-old biology student stepped forward to become a leading voice opposing the bill.
"People think of colleges as just being classrooms, but there's a lot more going on here," Woods says. "We have hospitals on campus. In some cases there are preschools, sensitive labs where there are hazardous materials.
"And this is also something where the Legislature is taking away higher education institution's abilities to make any policy on the issue."
At the student union, math major Logan Healey responds with sarcasm when asked about the proposed conceal-carry law: "So, our suggestion to stop people from bringing guns to campus is to allow other students to bring guns to campus so we can have gunfights."
His friend, Bethany Ellerbrook, chimes in: "That's an awful idea. I hate it."
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence reports that 22 states have rejected similar legislation. One that did not is Utah, where the University of Utah in Salt Lake City has had a concealed-weapon carry law for five years.
"I'd say the vast majority of our student body doesn't even know about that law, or if somebody does have a handgun in class, I bet you 95 percent of the people would never know about it," says Chase Jardine, president of the student body.
Asked what his own opinion is, he says he's indifferent: "It's just not a topic people talk about."
14 comments:
This honestly sounds like a bad idea. Metaphorically, this is the same as trying to douse a fire with gasoline. Adding more guns into the mix only offers more opportunity for such sad incidents to happen and will most likely see more limited shootings crop up. Knowing the level of rowdiness presented by UT during the football season, and also recognizing the amount of free-flowing alcohol on a college campus, arming every student just presents a circumstance in which fights will escalate at an unprecedented level. It would much more beneficial to further limit gun rights to help ensure that guns do not get on the college campus. It seems ignorant to try a lower gun restrictions when psychopathic individuals like Loughner et. al. can already easily get their hands on such firearms. Further restricting access to firearms will help to limit the number of occurrences of gun crimes and will help lower violent crime in general.
I get the idea where citizens can respond faster than cops sometimes, but everyone carrying a gun seems like it is leaving way too much room for accidents. A motivated shooter will probably go through with his/her plan whether the person next to them is carrying a gun or not. Don't they commit suicide later anyway? I think handguns should not be allowed anywhere unless you are a cop.
This idea, despite the opposition, should be considered. I must agree, however, that allowing any college student who wants to carry a concealed handgun is a bad idea. If at all, this legislation, if passed, should only allow teachers to carry concealed handguns. Of course, this legislation cannot deny licensed students 21 years of age or older to carry their weapons. But what it could do is have all students who are licensed carriers register with the university and have them take periodic "confidence and responsibility" tests, or something of the like. The emphasis is simply on helping to avoid another Virginia Tech situation, or, if it were to happen again, help stop it. All I'm saying is that this may not be a good idea, but it may not be a bad one either.
I think that if the law passed it would decrease the amount of school shootings but greatly increase the amount of gun related accidents in the city. Instead of allowing guns on campus, why not increase the campus security? No one is arguing that school shootings are in any way at all good, but how often do shootings happen at schools? And are they enough to allow a majority of all students to legally carry concealed firearms?
The idea of every normal student walking around packing heat isn't the ideal situation for where i would want to go to college. Think of all the ex-girlfriends and overly possessive boyfriends that would use their weapons for the wrong reasons. I understand that the campuses are trying to limit the amount of school shooting, but some how handing every student a weapon doesn't seem to be the best way. I have family members that carry weapons on them and they claim its for protection; however, i feel that having a gun will lead individuals into bad situations. I would veto this bill.
Allowing guns on campus can put students in danger. We've already had some campus shootings and this bill does not seem like the best. This bill might increase the chances of campus shootings, but in Salt Lake City (where they are allowed to carry guns in campus) nothing has happened.
I do not agree with having guns on college campuses.
You dont need to have them. I don't see why you would need a gun on a college campus anyway. I personally think that having a gun would probably cause a reason for it to
be used in the first place. "Right now, so-called gun-free zones, I think, ought to be renamed Victims Zones," said senate Jeff Wentworth, this is so true. If this bill passed things would happen
like at Virginia Tech or University of Austin. To prevent this from happening you dont need to have
guns or any sort of weapon on a campus. It could and might just cause problems.
This is such a tricky conflict. I feel like something must be done to help prevent these kinds of things from happening, but I just don't know if that is even possible. I think that Sen. Jeff Wentworth's comment is a little harsh. I believe that even if the college campuses allow concealed guns, these tragedies will still be possible. Even with this law, to make these tragedies have less victims, a person would still need to be around who is carrying a gun. I don't know how likely it is, but if someone isn't around, then the law was not successful. And if the law isn't successful, the state is risking the lives of college students by allowing guns to be in places like dorm rooms. From what I gather, guns are tricky but when you add large groups of people and alcohol and youthful shenanigans something could go very wrong. Corey Zipperer is right also. More often than not, people who apply for conceal carry licenses know what they are doing, no matter the location or age. I am having a difficult time coming to my opinion. I can see both sides of the story and I don't think either are wrong. I guess the public will have to trust that the lawmakers have our best interest in their minds. Oh and one more thing. I don't think that Logan Healey understood the idea. This measure won't be taken to prevent campus shootings, but to lessen the casualties of a campus shooting. However, if Logan is right and this is a preventative measure, then I am wholeheartedly against the measure. I don't believe that any possible shooter would be deterred from killing just because someone may have a concealed weapon. Other measures should be taken to prevent campus shootings from happening.
A sudden change in legislation simply won't lead to an explosive increase of guns on campus. A CHL has many requirements along with many hours of classroom and range training. The first requirement being, that the CHL holder be over 21, that rules out almost half of a university. A student that has undergone the CHL trainings will be mature with a firearm and will not increase thh violence on campus.
Ok I don’t see how this topic is even being argued. I mean how many not so smart people does it take to come up with an idea about allowing students to have guns on campus. I think this is an absolutely terrible idea. Now, I'm not just saying this as one of those people who are against guns, I was born in Texas and i have it in my head that every household should have a gun "just in case"; but to allow guns on an already endangered place like a college campus is in my opinion idiotic. What’s next? The law that allows high school students to carry guns on campus? No. I can see how maybe there should be an increase in security on the select larger college campus'. Though, I don’t see how giving student the right to carry guns can really help. If anything it would give justice to "accidental" shootings to take place. With everyone able to carry a gun it is easy to say "Oh, he was about to shoot me, it was self-defense".
This is an extremely bad idea. The potential threat that a rouge school shooting poses does not outweigh the ever constant threat of a potentially universally armed student and staff population even if the only weapon they are allowed to carry on the campus is a handgun. The answer to gun violence is never nor will ever be more guns. This should be abundantly clear to those that are familiar with modern history. Now if this law were to go into effect I do not think that every single student or staff member at particular university would choose to carry a weapon, but if we increase the number of weapons present in one location the probability that a deadly incident will occur increases as well. This is a situation that can and should be avoided.
Okay, so this is a very delicate subject. Guns can be the bane of our existence or the one thing that can save our life. At first glance one would think that the only thing this bill would accomplish is colleges full of guns. Of course no one would want that. This misconception leads many people astray and allows anti-gun enthusiasts to easily instigate people to dislike the bill. In all truth, though, I am almost certain that the bill could only help the shooting problems within colleges. First off you have to meet many requisites to even posses and concealed handgun license. So if someone had a psychiatric problem or a criminal record they could not receive a license. On top of that it will not increase the amount of shooting because I am sure the people that have the mind to do this would bring a gun regardless of a license or not. How many mentally unstable people would think of getting a gun license? Not many, at least, I would think. The bill would also instigate against people going through with these shootings, since there would no be something that could stop them. Anyhow thats just my two cents my entire outlook on the bill could be completely wrong, although, I am almost definite that I'm right.
I don't really like this idea... i mean i understand what their purpose is and why they think it'll be better, but... a gun is a gun. i'd think that letting people carry a gun would make it easier for them to conduct a school shooting... At the same time, though, there's the chance that anyone who wants to pull a gun on campus will be less likely to because of the possibility of other people having guns as well... i see where they're coming from, but i still disagree
The idea of giving everyone a gun is a very touchy subject I believe it should be discussed. Have alot of guns in one place is a very bad idea, guns don't officially solve all the problems of school shootings. guns shouldn't be given to just everybody, and even with strict laws on who can and cant carry a concealed weapon we still have some people gaining concealed liscenses that shouldnt. honestly, some people really arent mature enough to carry a gun and be respopnsible with it, there are to many people nowadays with short, hot tempers and it is just dangerous to allow them to go unchecked with lethal weapons. Plus, you arent just increasing the amount of weapons on campus people go off campus all the time and if you allow 50,000 students the ability to carry guns on campus they will also have them off campus. This increase the number of individuals weilding deadly weapons overall, a fact that should definitely be weighed in this decision.
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