Legislators should not allow guns on campuses
On Aug. 1, 1966, former marine Charles Whitman armed himself with seven guns and more than 700 rounds of ammunition and went on a shooting spree, murdering 16 people in 90 minutes. The Texas legislature decided this month that in August 2016, exactly 50 years after the incident, college students all over the Lone Star State will be permitted to similarly arm themselves while on campus. The state has seemingly adopted the idea that, according to State Representative Jonathan Stickland, “an armed society is a safe society.”
Yet despite this win for “Second Amendment rights,” pro-gun lobbying groups such as Students for Concealed Carry are still referring to these new laws as only a first step, and promise to finish the job in 2017. Students for Concealed Carry took particular umbrage with regulations that allowed public universities, like the UT schools, to designate particular parts of campus as gun-free zones and allow private universities to opt out entirely.
What these gun advocates do not understand about the legislative process is that compromise is necessary, especially on hot-button issues. Gun control is a heated, national debate and has been for decades. In this scenario, where the political left and right are firmly divided, even in Texas, neither side is going to emerge with a clear victory. Moderate voters decide the majority of elections, so no state legislature will side conclusively on one side of an issue because of political retribution.
Furthermore, the Republicans in Texas who sponsored this measure have created a solution searching for a problem. There is no rash of campus violence sweeping Texas institutions of higher learning that more concealed weapons would stop. In fact, UT Chancellor Admiral William McRaven, a former Navy SEAL who commanded U.S. Special Forces during the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, has said that while he loves his guns, he does not want to bring them to colleges because guns will not make the campus safer.
McRaven has more experience in these matters than others in the debate. He’s been trained extensively to use a gun and has been shot. Most students in Texas have probably not undergone the same level of training that McRaven has as a SEAL. In a firefight, when adrenaline kicks in and heart rate increases, it becomes much harder to maintain the fine motor control necessary to safely and effectively operate a firearm. For that reason, police officers and military personnel train constantly, until muscle memory overrides human physiology. The requirements for a concealed carry permit in Texas — 21 years of age, no felony convictions and a four-hour course on gun safety — are woefully inadequate for preparing a person to handle a live shooter situation. Cops are trained to handle those situations. People with concealed weapons permits alone are not.
Texas legislators also don’t seem to understand how laws and criminality work. Representative Stickland told the New York Times, “the criminals aren’t going to obey the laws. It’s the responsible folks who we should be encouraging to protect themselves in the community they live in.” The representative is indeed correct; criminals don’t obey the law, and that’s what makes them criminals. But, arguing that “criminals won’t obey the law” is a terrible reason to oppose a law. Just because a law will not be universally followed does not mean the law should not be put in placed and enforced to the fullest extent possible. The U.S. has laws against murder, but in 2013, there were 16,121 homicides in the U.S., 11,208 of which were from firearms, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those murders do not mean that the U.S. should eliminate laws against murder. If Stickland is really worried that criminals are not obeying the law, he should write legislation to increase enforcement of current gun laws, rather than arm more people.
Legislators spent a good deal of time talking about personal responsibility, but “responsibility” and “college student” don’t always go hand in hand. From binge drinkers to excessive partiers to sleazy fraternities to rapists, American colleges contain pockets of irresponsible students. Introducing guns into this mix is a recipe for disaster.
Dan Morgan-Russell is a rising senior studying international relations, global economy.
Texas homicide rate (with 24/7 patrol by 826,000 CHL holders): 4.4
Texas campus homicide rate (gun-free zone): 0.14
Number of times safer it is to be on-campus than off-campus: 31
Idiots don’t know that they are idiots. You know you’re comparing state stats to campus stats don’t you?
Yes. And I’m even doing the division for you, so that you can see how much more dangerous it is in gunville than gunfreeville.
“On Aug. 1, 1966, former marine Charles Whitman armed himself with seven guns and more than 700 rounds of ammunition and went on a shooting spree, murdering 16 people in 90 minutes.”
Which begs the question: Would the laws in effect for the last four decades stop another Whitman from doing the same thing?
The answer, of course, is no, they wouldn’t.
Therefore, citing the Whitman case (and all others committed in “gun-free” zones) is meant only to incite knee-jerk, emotional, non-rational reactions from the public, because even stricter laws would not stop another lunatic from arming up and committing mayhem on a college campus.
Therefore, there is no justifiable reason for banning lawful, licensed carry of arms on campuses anywhere. “Because I don’t like it.” is not a justifiable reason.
If one wants a poster child of common core educations failure combined with illicit narcotic abuse portraying the Hegelian Marxist fantasy of proposing failed solutions look no further than the childish uneducated immature article above…..
You neglect to mention that Charles Whitman was stopped through the efforts of other people who also had firearms on campus. Without their help, the police would not have been able to get to him in the tower. He is a great example of how “good guys” with guns on campus stopped a “bad guy” with a gun and prevented multiple murders.
Good point. Those guys running to get hunting rifles from the trunks of their cars saved lives, and sent a message to anyone else thinking of growing a brain tumor which might make them do something crazy.
Legislators allow guns in prisons, why should schools be any different?
Why should a free, peaceful people have arbitrary restrictions on where they may carry their possessions?
If your assertion that it takes a highly trained firearm handler to defend oneself properly was true then the wacko that just picks up a gun and starts shooting would be ineffective at killing people. There are schools all over this country that already allow guns on campus, none of the blood in the streets predictions have come true.
Did someone say “highly trained”?
Training days for a Pastry Chef: 96
For Ringling Bros./B&B Clown College: 48
For pro Dog Walker Certificate: 4
For Concealed Gun Permit: 1
Your point is?
How is one day of training sufficient for someone who wants the authority to use deadly force? Clowns get 48 days’ training, and only carry seltzer water. Is my point.
How much training is required to be a wacko shooting up a place?
For a disproportionate number, it’s the same as for a CHL. That’s because so many spree shooters have actually been concealed carriers themselves.
Okay, you’re an idiot. You have no idea what you’re talking about.
A 2014 FBI report detailing 160 “active shooter” incidents found just one stopped by a citizen concealed carrier, but 16 of the shooters they list turn out to have been concealed carriers themselves. Adding 20 more incidents which gun guru John Lott insisted should be included, there are at least 18 concealed carriers among 143 age 21-and-over active shooters. That is 4 times the average prevalence of concealed carriers in the general population during the sample period (2000 – 2013). Concealed weapon licensure appears to be a significant risk factor for becoming an active/mass shooter.
There. Now you attempt to apply a false denominator: “b-b-b-but that’s out of 11 million law-abidin’ God-fearin’ freedom lovin’ patriotic snakey-flag-worshipin’ mostly older male white folk!!”
Tell us how often someone with a license to carry goes rogue. Authority to use deadly force does not apply only to those that are armed.
Quite a number of problems, misconceptions, ignorance, lack of info, etc., here.
(1) Armed citizens helped keep Whitman boxed in and limited his lanes of fire.
(2) “What these gun advocates do not understand about the legislative process is that compromise is necessary” – that all depends. King Solomon comes to mind.
(3) “Furthermore, the Republicans in Texas who sponsored this measure have created a solution searching for a problem. There is no rash of campus violence sweeping Texas institutions of higher learning that more concealed weapons would stop.” One would think one Virginia Tech would be enough.
(4) “In a firefight, when adrenaline kicks in and heart rate increases, it becomes much harder to maintain the fine motor control necessary to safely and effectively operate a firearm.” Which is why one should to what, exactly, when you’re being fired upon and you don’t have a gun?
(5) “For that reason, police officers … train constantly, until muscle memory overrides human physiology.” Utterly and completely false.
(6) “Texas legislators also don’t seem to understand how laws and criminality work.” They are ahead of you, and by a long shot. The point is, someone bent on murder is not going to be deterred by a law that says, “no guns allowed at the place you intend to murder people.” “Arguing that “criminals won’t obey the law” is a terrible reason to oppose a law” – not if “the law” means leaving people defenseless at the mercy of a deranged gunman who is not deterred by the law. “Those murders do not mean that the U.S. should eliminate laws against murder.” Which is why no one is suggesting that. What it does mean is that we prosecute those who murder – that is an effective, suppressive deterrent – a “gun free zone” is not. That is the difference, and it is very, very simple.