Pages Menu
TwitterRssFacebook
Categories Menu

Posted by on Feb 21, 2011 in Featured, News | 7 comments

Texas to Allow College Students to Bear Arms

Share

Texas Governor Rick Perry

Texas law makers are poised to allow its students and professors to carry concealed firearms on campus so that they can defend themselves. This will be the second attempt by the lone star state to allow firearms on campus and the second state to allow weapons on campus. It is part of a broader campaign to open up this part of society to firearms. Currently 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. It’s no surprise that Governor Rick Perry, who carries a gun while jogging, is in favor of the idea. If the law passes then all 38 universities and 500,000 students will be able to take their firearm on campus and in class which many say could prevent the types of shootings seen at Virginia Tech.

Utah was the first state to pass such a broad measure that allows firearms on campus and in class and so far there have been no reported firearms incidents on campus. Colorado offers a different approach in that they give the universities the option to allow students the right to bear arms or not and several universities do allow their students to pack heat. Colorado has also not seen an increase in gun violence on campus. Supporters of the legislation say that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and Northern Illinois in 2008; show that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back. Students at Virginia Tech who were members of the VT Gun Club at the time of the shooting also felt that if they had their weapons with them that they could have interdicted.

“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.”

The worst shooting on a college campus, before Virginia Tech, took place at the University of Texas in 1966. Charles Whitman climbed the now infamous tower in the middle of the campus and opened fire with his high power sniper rifle, M1 Carbine and shotgun. He killed 16 and injured dozens more. Had it not been for the brave citizens who were present the body count may have been much higher. The police out gunned and pinned down, rounded up Texans who had firearms in their trucks and instructed them to open fire at the tower. The barrage of fire that the average Texans laid down was enough that several officers were able to sneak up the 16 story tower and kill Whitman. Many who’re not in favor of students carrying firearms on campus fail to mention this heroic story.

It seems logical that Texas would approve such a measure considering their long lineage of gun rights. 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. If Texans are able to responsibly carry firearms within the classroom it could pave the way for other states to pass similar measures. However guns on campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007 but the Texas bill looks unstoppable.

Just because Texas is opening up college campuses to firearms does not mean that all students will be rushing out to buy themselves a pistol. Texas currently has 461,724 license holders out of over 24 million residents as of Dec. 31, according to the state Department of Public Safety and U.S. Census.

Opponents of campus gun rights say students and faculty would live in fear of their classmates and colleagues, not knowing who might pull a gun over a poor grade, a broken romance or a drunken fraternity argument.
However the laws don’t just disappear for college students and pulling a firearm without just cause equals a trip to jail. Many say that they’d be uncomfortable knowing that a student next to them had a weapon on them but with Texas’ concealed carry laws they wouldn’t even be able to see it until its drawn. When Texas passed its concealed handgun law in 1995 opponents of the law said there would be blood on the streets and made it seem like there would be shootouts at every intersection but nothing of the sort has happened. It’s time to extend the Constitution to college students and allow them to defend themselves from savages.

Source: Huffington Post

Related posts:

  1. Texas GOP: The New White Supremacist Party
  2. My Rant of the Week: Concealed Carry
  3. Ignoring The Real Cause In Arizona And Blaming Guns Instead
  4. Kagan Anti Military?
  • Poppy

    I think it's a great idea. I for one would of shot the bastard long before he was able to kill so many students. School shootings are way too common nowadays. I think all teachers should be armed and trained to take down and apprehend a psychotic pistol packing crazed student. Not to mention if more students were armed I do believe that he would of been taken down sooner than later. It has nothing to do with "being a hero" it's about doing the right thing when innocent people/kids are involved and are in danger. By the time the police or school security arrive to the scene, your innocent kid in French class might be dead or mortally wounded.

    • Owner

      Thanks for your input! I agree with you 100%

  • haite

    This is the stupidest law ive ever heard!!! Is this guy stupid or something

    • ghjhg

      your stupid…lol butts

  • tqt

    Oopsie, you left this out of your cut-n-paste job:

    Guns on campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007, but gun control activists acknowledge it will be difficult to stop the Texas bill from passing this year. "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 when he 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."

    • Owner

      Everyone is entitled to their opinion but if it were a cut and paste job I would have included his quote as well. Since I disagreed with his opinion and the anti-gun Huffington Post I chose to exclude his quote. I do however always clearly label the source of the content as well as highlighting the quotes from said site. Credit is always given where credit is due.

      I watched videos directly after the shooting where plenty of people who were witnesses of the shooting felt that if they could have had their weapons with them then they could have stopped the mad man. I agree with that assumption. In case you haven't noticed by now I'm pro firearms and my articles will represent that. Unlike the Huffington Post I side with the Constitution. We also have never had an incident where armed students could either prove or disprove either sides assumption and until then my thoughts will remain the same.

    • ghjhg

      Being a hero and self defense are two different things. I agree that many people think that being in that position is a breeze and that they could easily get out of it and shoot the gunman like it was nothing. That is an asenine comment. But in a moment of danger it is human nature to protect themselves. in a moment of danger, knowing they had a gun would be give them a reasurring feeling. they would react!