Western Courier

The question of whether or not to allowed concealed firearms on campus is really academic. The state of Illinois does not issue Concealed Pistols Licenses (What we call them in Michigan) and therefore, does not recognize out of state permits either.

As for Mr. Vernick's comments, coming from a known anti-self defense center such as Johns Hopkins, I'd take what he says with a grain of salt. There are numerous RECORDED incidents where the mere presence of a lawfully carried firearm saved the life of it's user, or the life of another, would be victim.

Unfortunately, you have missed a vital set of statistics. In states where concealed carry has been put into place, the overall crime rates in those states have dropped. Criminals become less bold about their actions, especially in personal attacks when they know their victim may well be armed and willing to use deadly force.

There are currently only 2 states with absolutely no concealed carry, Illinois and Wisconsin. As of 2006 2 states had unrestricted Concealed Carry, 37 states had Shall Issue Concealed Carry, 9 states had May Issue Concealed Carry (Source: Wikipedia). The Unrestricted States require no permit to carry a concealed handgun. Shall Issues states issue permits to anyone who meets the requirements set out in their program. The May Issue states will issue a permit if you demonstrate a need to carry (i.e. for your work, a threat, etc.).

Two things need to happen in the state of Illinois. 1)The General Assembly needs to pass and Gov. Blagoviech needs to sign a bill that establishes a Shall Issue Concealed Carry License system in the state of Illinois, including all of Chicago. 2)Students who possess a valid CCW permit must be allowed to carry on campus.

If one student at Virgina Tech or at NIU had been armed, many lives could have been saved. Governments have handcuffed us all to be victims. And it is time to stop making victims.

Then again, students would have to pass a safety course to obtain a FOID card and a gun, then pass additional tests to obtain a concealed weapons permit...

This is the problem. Licensing, background checks, and training requirements are an outrage when it comes to our rights.

In Idaho, I can buy a gun through the local paper (person to person sale), and "Open Carry" it without having to ask permition from anyone, or be screened, or any other nonsense.

People have really lost track of what a right is. It doesn't matter how somebody FEELS, it doesn't matter what the majority thinks, it doesn't matter what "statistics" say. What it boils down to is who has the authority. We the people have the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, to be exercised as long as we doe not infringe on the rights of others while doing so.

So the question, when it comes to carrying on a campus, is: Who owns the Campus? Is it private or public? Should Universities that accept state money be able to bar weapons?


Sincerely,
Brandon Stone
CD'A, Idaho

Since Illinois has no issuance of concealed carry permits to any person, the question is academic for Illinois residents. However, as a 59-year old associate professor of business at a small, private college in Texas, I would like to know why the State of Texas would trust me with a CHL and allow me to carry on the streets of Austin, but think that I cannot be trusted on campus. The same holds true for those students who are 21 years old, and otherwise legally qualified to obtain a CHL. Nobody is talking about issuing guns to all students or allowing those under the age of 21 to carry.

Finally, the crime statistics for Texas CHL holders are available on the Texas DPS (Department of Public Safety) website. If one looks at those crime statistics and does the numbers to get incidents per 100,000 persons, one can readily see that CHL holders are much less likely to be convicted of a crime than the average resident of Texas. Getting a CHL is not a trivial exercise. It involves both FBI and Texas DPS criminal background checks, training, testing, and other criteria. If one passes, then one is issued a permit at a cost of $140 for five years, plus about $200 for the mandatory training. People who do that are not normally a problem. The problem is with people who carry without a permit and in violation of the law. All of the laws in the world won't deter a criminal. If they would, then we wouldn't need our police, courts, and prisons. Laws only deter the law-abiding.

None of this holds any significance when they enlist Martial Law. The countless presidential signing statements already created the new world. Martial Law is the 'trigger event' that allows them to be enacted... Don't allow them to persuade you that an 'event' triggers Martial Law. It won't be the case.

With that said... Who cares if you have the right to carry. You have the rite to self defense. We at the University of Iowa keeps guns in our couches... in our bathrooms... in our kitchens.

CCW permit holders are subject to a higher standard simply because they choose to equip themselves with the means for self defense. Get caught drinking while armed, loose the permit. Pull your firearm and wave it about without provable cause, loose your permit. Exhibit any sign of diminished capacity or responsibility, loose your permit. Which is why your typical armed citizen is quiet, polite, and unobtrusive when out in public. Anyone acting out with a weapon is either unlicensed or one of a thankfully small group of law enforcement that feel they are above the very laws they serve to protect.
And if everyone on college campuses is so very unreliable, why should we allow them access to any dangerous implements? Register for school, surrender your drivers license. After all a 4000 pound vehicle is far more dangerous than a puny little pistol, and statistically kills far more people in a given year. If they're that unreliable, what are we doing letting students vote in government elections? Powerful stuff for a demographic you claim to be dangerous around what is essentially just a long range power tool.
Stripped of my somewhat humorous hyperbole, the question remains, are students (and faculty and other university employees) responsible adults or a special case of questionable infants who must be protected from themselves and from doing harm to others? If that is truly the case, you cannot in good conscience stop with just firearms, you must keep them safe from all grownup implements with violent potential.

"The best science that we have says concealed carry laws do not save lives, as the proponents contend," said Jon Vernick, co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research in Baltimore, in a Christian Science Monitor article.
-----------------------------------------------------

Let's take a simple test based upon the reality of the situation...

You are in class with twenty students.. For whatever reason going on in his head a person with a gun walks in and

opens fire, randomly shooting at students.

Making the assumption that your primary concern is about surviving the next 30 seconds whom would you would

rather have sitting in the seat next to you....

1) A student just like me, late 20s, military veteran with extensive training in firearms and small weapons tactics, and

legally carrying a concealed handgun

or

2) A student just like Jon Vernick, who at best, is going to attempt to use YOU as cover.

... and if one close-to-the-edge student at a different university was allowed to carry a concealed weapon and pushed over the edge by a bad grade, he or she already has a gun and doesn't have to think through the situation before pulling it out. If that happens once, it negates all the good that could be done with concealed weapons on campus. "

And if lightning stikes us it may set our pants on fire too.

Since there are already hundreds of thousands of college students carrying legally concealed handguns both on and off campuses in a number of states then why have we not heard of dozens of these "horror stories"? Perhaps because they do not exist except in the fevered imaginings of those who dislike guns?

And if one campus jock rapes a girl, it negates all the good that could be done with jocks on campus?

"Making it lawful to possess a concealed weapon will not turn everyone into a defender of the peace. "

It was never the intention of the CCW laws to turn ~anyone~ into a "defender of the peace." But if a CCW holder, in the process of saving his/her life, also happens to save YOURS are you really going to complain about the injustice of it all?

"Not a large percentage of people will carry guns with them, so the assumption that someone could take out a school shooter with his or her concealed weapon is more of a longshot than a truth. "

Hmmmm.... longshot chance vs. ZERO chance? When MY life is on the line... which do I choose? That can be a difficult one, eh.

"All it would do is make it more convenient for gang members and school shooters to bring their hatred to campus"

Yes, because gang members and school shooters are such good citizens that they all go down to the police station, fill out their life story on paper, wait for an extensive FBI/local background check BEFORE they bring their guns to campus to do harm.

Do they offer logic courses at this campus?