Texas Campus Carry

[Dale00]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Campus-concealed-carry-bill-no-laughing-matter-1177049.php

Campus concealed carry bill no laughing matter
Only university-owned buildings listed in concealed carry bill.
By W. Scott Lewis/Special to the Express-News
Updated 12:01 a.m., Friday, March 18, 2011

When Conan O'Brien poked fun at the issue, I couldn't help but laugh. Between jokes about President Barack Obama and Justin Bieber, the talk show host quipped, “This is weird: Texas is reportedly going to give college students the right to carry guns on campus. So, I guess next semester every college student in Texas is getting straight A's.” ...

...The 97 legislators who've signed on to Texas's pending “campus carry” bills haven't done so out of some misplaced devotion to the code of the West. Unlike most of their critics, they actually understand the issue.

An editorial in the online magazine CollegeCandy.com asks, “Can you imagine a frat party where the guys are allowed to have their guns? Nothing about that says ‘good idea' to me.” The drunken frat boy argument is such obvious, low-hanging fruit that one can almost forgive the author for conflating college campuses (where students study) with college life (where students party).

But the bills in question only apply to university-owned buildings and wouldn't change the laws at frat houses, which are owned by fraternal organizations and typically located off campus. Likewise, the bills wouldn't change laws at on-campus tailgating events, off-campus apartments, or bars (whether on campus or off). In short, the locations where students are most likely to drink and engage in high-risk behavior would still be governed by the same laws as before.

A Los Angeles Times editorial suggests, “A student firing back at a gunman in a crowded classroom might pose as much of a risk to his fellow students as the assailant.” But contrary to what Hollywood might have us believe, real-world shootouts don't involve 10 minutes of people diving over desks and ducking behind doorways to reload.

According to the FBI, most shootouts last less than 10 seconds. How could 10 seconds of exchanged gunfire between two armed individuals possibly lead to greater loss of life than a 10-minute, uncontested execution-style massacre like we saw at Virginia Tech, where the gunman walked from classroom to classroom shooting victims at pointblank range?

Today, one Texan out of every 55 is licensed to “pack heat” in such seemingly taboo locations as churches, movie theaters, shopping malls, restaurants, banks and even the Texas Capitol. Yet, a Texan is 20 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be killed by a concealed handgun license holder.

The 71 U.S. college campuses that currently allow licensed concealed carry have yet to see a single resulting incident of gun violence (including threats and suicides), a single resulting gun accident or a single resulting gun theft.

Joking about campus carry legislation is well and good until you find yourself on a college campus, confronted by a madman who's chosen to ignore the school's “gun free” policy. Then it's no laughing matter.

W. Scott Lewis is Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

 

[deja]

Logic doesn't fly in this debate. That gets you shouted down by the legions of one-liners.

 

[Dale00]

The tide is changing but it's not as fast as any of us would want.

In a heated situation where the one-liners are flying, about all you can do is have some questions prepared. Think of them as arrows you carry in your quiver. Ask them one at a time and politely insist that they be answered.

"Why is it legal for a permit holder to carry a gun on that side of the line but not on this side?"

"Do you really think a law against firearms is going to stop a mentally disturbed person or a robber or rapist from bringing a gun onto a campus?"

You are not trying to convince the hot-headed anti-gun guys. You are trying to convince the people listening to the debate. If you look at the audience much of the time as you ask your questions/make your points and keep your cool, then the audience will see you as a reasonable person and be likely to believe what you are saying.

That would be my strategy.