Editor:
This gun issue is not about allowing a free-thought environment to exist on campus. Controlling thoughts or opinions with guns is what terrorists try to do. The debate is not about safety concerns at the Olympics. One can already see the fences and security check points coming into place for the Games.
This debate is not even about the safety of the students. If it were, people would be talking about response times to incidents or psychological deterrents to violent criminals. It is not about paranoia either. Both sides basically agree that it is highly unlikely that a life threatening situation would arise where an immediate response by a concealed weapon permit holder would change the outcome?not that having a quick response would not save lives, but that a situation requiring a quick response doesn’t come up every afternoon.
This debate is about people not understanding what the purpose of allowing concealed weapons on campus is. It is also about the majority not understanding the few people willing to carry them. It is about people not understanding that there are some very dangerous people out there and we need some tools to stop them.
This debate keeps going because a lot of people don’t see the good intentions of those willing to get licensed and carry a gun. We have been taught by society that the two types of people who carry guns are either a police officer or a psychopath. I submit that there is a third type of person carrying a gun, and that is the concealed weapon permit holder. I am one, and I know at least seven permit holders. I would feel a lot safer knowing that they were allowed to carry on campus. The Legislature sees concealed weapons as a deterrent to violent crime and so do I.
We all have mental or physical tools that we can use to save lives in different situations. One of the best tools we can use is a cell phone?I don’t go anywhere without mine.
Allowing good citizens to carry weapons on campus is another tool to save lives. Why not let those citizens who have taken the concealed weapon class, passed the shooting test, registered with the state, been finger printed, passed an FBI background check and get there names checked against a database of criminals everyday, carry weapons on campus to protect themselves and all of us as well?
The police can’t be everywhere to initiate the kind of response where seconds mean lives. If I were in a class and someone started shooting, I would be really thankful to the concealed weapon permit holder who was returning fire so that I could escape.
Bryant Weber, Junior, Accounting