Guns OK on campus?

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Posted: 4/21/08

From Monday to Friday this week, the 25,000 members of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus will wear empty holsters to protest laws that deny students the right to carry concealed guns on campus.

The protest closely follows the first anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings and comes at a time when nine states are considering legislation on the matter. According to CNN.com, Utah is the only state to allow weapons at all public universities, and Colorado allows guns at all public colleges except the University of Colorado-Boulder campus.

To obtain a CHL (concealed handgun license) or a CCW (concealed carry weapons permit), states require applicants to meet an age requirement, take a class, pass written and shooting tests, state and federal fingerprint/background checks and pay a fee. Six states allow this license to be given out beginning at age 18, while the others begin at age 21.

When the WC debated the question of whether or not Western should allow licensed students to carry concealed weapons on campus, we found the topic so charged and complicated we could not come to a consensus.

While allowing guns on campus may make some people feel safer - including those who might carry them - it left us unsettled to think about an increase of weapons on campus, especially with the prevalence of alcohol in some areas. We feel carrying a gun in your own waistband may increase the feeling of being unsafe on campus and cause people to live in fear.

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, so why can't we trust students to handle guns responsibly? Maybe having a concealed weapon is a good idea; that way, if a shooting occurred, students would have a way to defend themselves.

After searching the Internet for scientific evidence, we found carrying a weapon may not be much help.

"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.

Each side of the issue has valid arguments, but the WC wonders if choosing either way will really make much of a difference. Gun violence on campus does not hinge on whether carrying weapons is legal or illegal - it can happen in both situations. It would seem the real problem is how easy it is to obtain a weapon.

Perhaps legislators need to focus on greater restrictions for those who try to purchase a gun and tougher punishment for those who sell and purchase guns without proper licensing.