Spring Break
Campuses debate gun control issues
Tim Bella
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: News
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Not even a year after the most horrific school shooting in this country's history, the debate has been brought back to college campuses.
The debate as to whether students should be allowed to carry a concealed firearm into a college classroom has been a prevalent topic among special-interest groups, university administrators, lawmakers and students alike since that fateful April 16th morning in Blacksburg, Va.
The heart of the debate focuses on whether allowing concealed weapons in a classroom setting can save lives if a catastrophe such as the one at Virginia Tech happens again.
Since the tragedy, groups such as Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) have sprouted around college campuses nationwide, advocating that students who are concealed handgun license holders should have the right to carry these concealed firearms into university buildings.
The group saw its membership climb in October, adding about 3,000 new student activists to put the group at 7,500 members through October, said W. Scott Lewis, SCCC's spokesman. This spike in membership numbers coincided with an "empty holster" protest university representatives took part in Oct. 22 through Oct. 26. The protest took place at almost all of the 111 universities and colleges represented in the group and had students wearing empty gun holsters around their campuses. There is not a TCU chapter of SCCC. Texas universities with SCCC chapters include the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Baylor University, Texas Tech University, the University of North Texas, Texas State University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Stephen F. Austin State University and Angelo State University.
The discussion has even made its way to Texas State where, according to a recent article in the University Star, the campus newspaper, a resolution presented at an Associated Student Government meeting calling for the state legislature to allow concealed weapons to be carried to class.
The debate as to whether students should be allowed to carry a concealed firearm into a college classroom has been a prevalent topic among special-interest groups, university administrators, lawmakers and students alike since that fateful April 16th morning in Blacksburg, Va.
The heart of the debate focuses on whether allowing concealed weapons in a classroom setting can save lives if a catastrophe such as the one at Virginia Tech happens again.
Since the tragedy, groups such as Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) have sprouted around college campuses nationwide, advocating that students who are concealed handgun license holders should have the right to carry these concealed firearms into university buildings.
The group saw its membership climb in October, adding about 3,000 new student activists to put the group at 7,500 members through October, said W. Scott Lewis, SCCC's spokesman. This spike in membership numbers coincided with an "empty holster" protest university representatives took part in Oct. 22 through Oct. 26. The protest took place at almost all of the 111 universities and colleges represented in the group and had students wearing empty gun holsters around their campuses. There is not a TCU chapter of SCCC. Texas universities with SCCC chapters include the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University, Baylor University, Texas Tech University, the University of North Texas, Texas State University, the University of Texas at San Antonio, Stephen F. Austin State University and Angelo State University.
The discussion has even made its way to Texas State where, according to a recent article in the University Star, the campus newspaper, a resolution presented at an Associated Student Government meeting calling for the state legislature to allow concealed weapons to be carried to class.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 8
TPaine
posted 11/30/07 @ 2:01 PM CST
Wyatt Tubb sums up the debate succinctly in the last paragraph.
"I have never thought about that" is at least an honest beginning.
Many well intentioned, decent people have never thought things through. (Continued…)
Stephen J. Feltoon
posted 11/30/07 @ 3:37 PM CST
To follow-up with TPaine, it's not even about the sheep mentality of "I don't know what I'd do". If someone doesn't want to own or carry a gun, we support them, but don't ruin it for the rest of us. (Continued…)
Jack Duncan
posted 11/30/07 @ 6:38 PM CST
I am still amazed that some people are so naive as to think putting up a "No Guns" sign will actually prevent someone from having a gun. Only the law abiding (which by definition are not the problem) will obey such nonsense. (Continued…)
Jonh Luvaro
posted 11/30/07 @ 7:40 PM CST
While the academic debate drags on, re gun carry on campus, I recommend this. Do what I did when I had to live in affordable housing; (read here, a marginal / dangerous neighborhood). (Continued…)
Glen
posted 12/01/07 @ 9:46 PM CST
You rock; exactly what I did; and I carry my gun everywhere I can that doesn't have a metal detector -"no carry" sign be damned. No one, no government (look at 9/11 and the unarmed pilots!), no school, and no corporation has the right to take away my right to defense of family and self. (Continued…)
W. Scott Lewis
posted 12/03/07 @ 10:17 AM CST
FYI, it's a third degree felony to carry a concealed handgun on the campus of a college or university in the state of Texas, so the worst case scenario is being expelled AND going to jail. (Continued…)
Ed Sizemore
posted 12/03/07 @ 5:06 PM CST
This is, in my opinion, a no-brainer. The right to self-protection is God-given, and it is acknowledged and recognized by the Second Amendment; the Constitution does give us that right. (Continued…)
Itsa Secret
posted 12/04/07 @ 3:52 PM CST
Not meaning to nit-pick here, but for accuracy's sake: BYU is a private school and so they have the right to ban guns from their campuses (and I believe their Honor Code contains some language to the effect that students will not bring firearms on campus or keep them in student housing). (Continued…)
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