STAR TRIBUNE
By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press
AUSTIN, TEXAS - Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.
More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and is expected to do so again. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he's in favor of the idea.
Texas has become a prime battleground for the issue because of its gun culture and its size, with 38 public universities and more than 500,000 students. It would become the second state, following Utah, to pass such a broad-based law. Colorado gives colleges the option, and several have allowed handguns.
Supporters of the legislation argue that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois in 2008, shows that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back.
"It's strictly a matter of self-defense," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "I don't ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks."
Similar firearms measures have been proposed in about a dozen other states, but all face strong opposition, especially from college leaders. In Oklahoma, all 25 public college and university presidents declared their opposition to a concealed carry proposal.
"There is no scenario where allowing concealed weapons on college campuses will do anything other than create a more dangerous environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors," Oklahoma Chancellor of Higher Education Glen Johnson said in January.
University of Texas President William Powers has opposed concealed handguns on campus, saying the mix of students, guns and campus parties is too volatile.
Guns occupy a special place in Texas culture. Politicians often tout owning a gun as essential to being Texan. Concealed handgun license holders are allowed to skip the metal detectors that scan Capitol visitors for guns, knives and other contraband.
"Things do look bleak," said Colin Goddard, assistant director of federal legislation for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin recently to lobby against the Texas bills. Goddard was a student at Virginia Tech and was shot four times in his French class.
Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, including 10 in Goddard's classroom, before shooting himself. Goddard dismisses the idea that another student with a gun could have stopped the killer.
"People tell me that if they would have been there, they would have shot that guy. That offends me," Goddard said. "People want to be the hero, I understand that. They play video games and they think they understand the reality. It's nothing like that."
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
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I think it's a ridiculous idea. First, the dangerous and aggressive situation is not usual in society, I mean the gun violence. It's a sign of unhealthy society, but cases like this happen anywhere once in a while. Second, letting students pack guns is definitely more dangerous. Who knows if a student easily get mad and shoot their friends? Or shoot people when they are drunk. Using guns is not like arguing, you can talk afterwards and then be friends again, it would probably take away others' life. And using guns is not the right way to solve the problems in society. It would just make things getting worse. The right way is to let police make more protection over people, and educate people not to do those aggressive things that don't help any of their confusions.
ReplyDeleteWe are trying to make problems easier and clearer instead of making it more complicated. I disagree with letting students use guns
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Colleen. Guns should not be carried around, espically in college. And people should know that what happens if your goofing off with your friends and someone is like "Oh, hey man I'm going to shoot you!" they pull the trigger and they didn't know their gun is loaded. I'm pretty sure you can figure out the rest of the story. This is not a good idea at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it would be a smart idea to put guns in the hands of the youth, especially college students. Carrying any type of weapon makes people to feel a need to use them. At least that is what I think. Guns should not be allowed anywhere around a college or any form of learning enviroment.
ReplyDeleteI think that all students should not pack guns, because as students we like to joke around with people and it might (and probably will) turn into something different if students started to pack guns. Another reason is that high school students are supposed to set good examples for the childeren of america. I mean what if a little kid saw their role model have a gun in school, they are not going to go up and say you should not have them, they are going to go home and ask their parents if they can pack a gun to school. I know people in Texas probably think it is to protect them, but i think it is down right stupid. I think that guns should be kept at home where they belong, and not in the hands of students at school.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with who ever says people are going to goof off with their friends at college with guns, with the exception of people under the influence. I'm against the policy of letting college students bearing guns. I see absolutely no use having a gun on hand at college. Also, if a student is having a problem you should see if they can get some help rather than using the Virginia Tech incident as an example to pack guns. Sen. Jeff Wentworth says, "It's strictly a matter of self-defense", but I can't thing of anyone who could kill someone. In a life or death situation it's hard to put thought into anything with so much pressure and surprise you are under, Colin Goddard is the perfect example when that happened to him. Therefore I do not see a need in bearing a gun at college.
ReplyDeleteI think it is not a good idea to allow guns in colleges. I wouldn't feel safe at all if I know that I'm sitting in a classroom and everybody would have a gun. Why do you need a gun in school. If you are frightened because some crazy kid could come to school and shoot, wouldn't it be easier for those? They are not afraid of the guns, they usually shoot themselves anyway. A lot of people carrying guns around them would't stop them from doing it and giving them the right would just make it easier for them. So I think guns should't be allowed in college.
ReplyDeleteI think that college students should not be allowed to carry guns to class. They could randomly go off and hurt someone. What if the student forgot to put the saftey on? Or what if the saftey came off when it was in their backpack or wherever they choose to keep it? And like Colleen said they could easily shoot someone they don't like or get mad at or if they are under the influence.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I can see where colleges would allow guns. Like the Virginia Tech incident. If a madman came into my school looking to kill anyone or everyone, I would hope someone would be able to take care of it and defend everyone who doesn't carry a gun. So I guess I kinda agree with both ideas on some level.
I hope some of these universities know what they are getting into. I mean come on, allowing universities to let their students carry a concealed handgun is just stupid on their part. Do you really need to carry a gun to make you feel safe? It's just going to make things more complicated because say if someone gets into a fight and they have a gun on hand, they might end up pulling the gun out and start shooting. Like I said, I hope these universities know what they are doing.
ReplyDeleteI Think everyone would agree that giving college students the right to carry a gun on campus is outrageous. Its just an incentive for more shooting to go down. And i seriously doubt if there were a shootout. Theat any of the sutdents would be calm enough to shoot back.
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