Since people seem to want to debate this, I figure I'd start the thread. What do you guys think? Is a college campus with armed students a great idea? I mean, it's not like in the chaos of one moron starting to kill people that there won't be a hell of a lot more innocent people getting caught in the crossfire of other students firing. And if you don't see the initial shooter, you might open fire on one of the vigilantes trying to stop the original shooter or that guy might be firing on another vigilante that he mistook for the original shooter. I know, I know what you advocates are thinking about my post. . .it's a totally awesome scenario and you wish you could do it every weekend.
We have an incident here that seems to suggest that No Gun Zones don't work. The problem is, when they work...whey they're a deterrent...when they prevent a problem from ever happening...there is no event to point to in an "a-ha!!" fashion. I believe it would be a mistake to allow guns on college/high school campuses as a knee-jerk to this incident.
We all know that in the old west when everyone had a gun, there was no crime, shootings, or lawlessness.
Guns don't kill people, people kill people. If they haven't had guns, they might have killed people with Zwillinger Chef's Knifes. Or maybe not.
Well actually you would still have to qualify for a Concealed carry license. Any most young people are not interested in getting one. Its not like the university would be handing out guns with the new semester schedule.
Agreed. You have to be at least 21 years old anyways to apply for a concealed handgun license. Additionally, there are other things that can disqualify you from being eligible to qualify for a concealed handgun license.
Apparently being a mentally unstable mass murderer in the making isn't one of those things. It's too bad there is really no way to put guns in the hands of only those who are TRULY responsible and of sound mind.
Being a high school teacher, I see the problems with allowing students to carry weapons, but today's schools are vulnerable to attacks, and I don't mean by terrorists. I mean by any whacko that can walk into a school with a weapon...whether is be an outsider or a disgruntled student...Nowadays, students seem like they have no conscience in the decisions they make... Personally, since guns are off limits in school, I carry a can of Fox OC spray and a knife in my pocket every day to work, and my Glock is always with me...at home either on me or out of kids reach at sleep time...In the Stang, on me, and at work, the Glock is locked up in a center of mass car safe. We do have campus police that carry weapons, but they can not be everywhere all the time. I feel that there should be campus personel that are allowed to discreetely carry a sidearm. Sort of along the concept of air marshalls. Of course, they would be required to pass a background check and would have to pass some sort of training. As a teacher in a lockdown situation, we lock our doors and wait in our classes. If someone is trying to get in, we would be cornered in. No way to fight back or protect ourselves. There has to be a better way to protect the kids than locking the door and praying that the BG's don't find you.
True. Anyone can crack AFTER they receive their license to carry. It's not a perfect system, but those that can legally protect themselves from danger should be able to. Can anyone find some statistics on the number of violent gun crimes commited by CHL holders?
I'd also be curious about the statistics of the number of gun crimes committed by guns originally purchased by CHL and then lost, sold, or stolen.
i too voted both, but not because i "could"... i think there are areas that should indeed be "no gun zones" such as bars, government buildings, airports. but there are some that i think could be abolished such as universities, and shopping malls. also, here is a pdf of the conviction rates http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/administration/crime_records/chl/convrates.htm
