Monday, April 20, 2009
Ten years ago two students entered Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., armed with weapons. The students went on a shooting rampage, killing 13 people and wounding 23 others. Unfortunately April 20, 1999, did not mark the end of such tragedies. Thirty three people lost their lives at Virginia Tech in April 2007, five were killed at Northern Illinois in February 2008, and more recently a gunman opened fire in Binghamton, N.Y., killing 14.
These horrible acts of violence may seem states away but recently a Student Senate debate was canceled because of violent threats. In light of such events, membership for the nonprofit organization Students For Concealed Carry on Campus has been rapidly increasing across the country, according to a Feb. 16 Newsweek article. Yet despite concern about the shooting rampages in the United States, a conceal and carry law is not needed at the University.
When acts of violence are committed, advocates for conceal and carry often speak out. Many subscribe to the notion that such violence could have been prevented if others were permitted to carry firearms. Advocates argue that a gunman would be less likely to shoot if he thought he would be shot at in return. The gunmen at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, and Binghamton, however, all killed themselves. A gunman on a shooting rampage may not fear for his own life while committing murder.
Although the process to obtain a conceal and carry permit is lengthy, it does not adequately prepare gun owners to respond to crises. In order to obtain a conceal and carry license in Kansas, an individual must agree to a background check, attend an eight-hour training course and pay $200. Although a person must learn how to properly operate a firearm before gaining a permit, the law does not require participation in any crisis training of the kind taken by police officers.
Police officers have been trained to operate a gun during times of crisis, but without such training a person can easily lose control. Many people could get caught in crossfire.
The violent shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois were horrible and devastating; however, students should be aware that such rampages are not common and do not represent a broader trend among college campuses. According to USA Today, 43 students were murdered on a college campus between 2001 and 2005. This is a rate of less than 10 students per year when nearly 20 million attend college annually.
Concealed weapons should be permitted on a college campus only if a real need exists for them. If students fear for their lives daily and feel the need to protect themselves, then a conceal and carry law is necessary. But at the University we are not under a daily threat. Students have no need to bring firearms to class. Allowing concealed weapons might make the owner of the weapon feel safer, but it will not make campus safer as a whole. Instead, perhaps the University should focus on preventing other, more widespread threats to students, such as binge drinking.
— Brown is a Wichita sophomore in journalism and political science.
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Comments
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
I'm undecided on this issue and I do not feel that this editorial did a good job of addressing the best arguments for concealed carry.
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
face + palm
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
The mass shootings are common, yet all the gun laws in the world aren't going to make them go away. And exactly what kind of training do police officers go through that makes them more qualified than your average John Q Public? You act like they have some sort of Jedi-like mastery over fire arms that the common citizen could never hope to possess. Have you anti-gun people ever even seen a firearm? They aren't some unpredictable killing machines any more than your car is. In the hands of a typical sane individual with some basic safety instructions they're very simple.
"Advocates argue that a gunman would be less likely to shoot if he thought he would be shot at in return. The gunmen ... all killed themselves"
That's the idea. They kill as many people as they can then turn the gun on themselves. They fully intend (or one would have to think) on dying before the end of the day, but it's not much of a killing spree if they're going to get taken down after their first victim. So why aren't there ever mass shootings at gun shows or NRA conventions, but only in crowded places where nobody is armed?
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
I wasn't aware Colorado is "states away."
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
"People get sent to the army instead of jail sometimes." Wrong. That practice stopped years ago. The Army (or any branch of the armed forces for that matter) is not allowed to accept for enlistment anyone who has a deal with the courts to drop a charge or enlist in lieu of jail time. Army Regulation 601-210 spells this out for the Army, every other branch has a similar instruction in force. Not that I don't have an opinion on any of this (I do, but I'll get it up later). I will ensure that misinformation like your's doesn't stay up uncontested for long though, because its insulting to the Armed Forces, and to veterans on campus.
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
I don't know where you got the idea that certain posters are angry, don't value human life, or think they're Rambo. This is what I've come to dislike about some of the attitudes from the anti-gun movement. They think all gun owners are some sort of crazy rednecks.
In any case, I wanted to debunk some of the fallacious arguments concerning conceal carry and gun ownership but that wasn't addressed so let me repeat myself.
How is banning conceal carry going to eliminate the threat of a school shooting here or anywhere? Note: banning guns and eliminating guns are not the same thing.
Why do you think these shootings only happen in public places like schools where guns are not permitted, but not at places where guns are everywhere?
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
I'll add that concealed carry is the law in this state. It passed in both chambers a few years ago. People are carrying concealed all the time, and yet the world hasn't come to an end. What bothers me about this debate is that the Board of Regents (an unelected body) has decided that they will impose their beliefs at state schools, and that belief is opposite entirely from the decisions our elected officials in Topeka have voted on. Until there is some accountabliity with the Kansas Board of Regents, nothing will change, and getting them to answer to somebody in Topeka besides the governor would be a good start.
Brown: Conceal and carry on campus would be needless, dangerous
Self defense is, by definition, selfish. If there's a shooting in my immediate vicinity and my loved ones and I are not involved, it's still not my shooting. I'm keeping grey and taking a walk. Everybody else can fend for themselves. At best, I'll call 9-1-1.
I don't know where this mentality of heroism came from that everybody seems to be talking about. Whoever said concealed carry permits turn their holders in to one person SWAT teams? Of course, if there is a permit holder out there that has this mentality, I hope they have validated their skill set.
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