Texas Lawmakers Aim For Guns On College Campuses

[jpak]

http://www.npr.org/2011/02/04/133466058/texas-lawmakers-aim-for-guns-on-college-campuses

Is the answer to mass shootings on college campuses to arm students and staff? Eight states are considering legislation that would allow people to carry a concealed handgun into the lecture hall, the library or the dorm. Ground zero for the debate is Texas, where a proposed law would remove "premises of higher education" as gun-free zones.

"Right now, so-called gun-free zones, I think, ought to be renamed Victims Zones," says state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, a San Antonio Republicanwho is sponsoring a bill that would allow handguns on campuses. "I just don't want to see a repeat in Texas of what happened at Virginia Tech."

Wentworth was referring to the massacre at Virginia Tech in 2007, when a student killed 32 people on campus and injured many others before turning the gun on himself.

Last September, the University of Texas at Austin had its own scare. Colton Tooley, a 19-year-old math major wearing a dark suit and ski mask, started shooting an AK-47 assault weapon in the air, then ran into a library and committed suicide. No one else was shot. Campus police were praised for their quick response.

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more republican dumbfuckery

yup

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. What group of people legally carry on campus all of the time without permits?

They are not the campus police. How many problems have they caused?

[WatsonT]

3. If it's concealed carry you would have to have a permit

[damntexdem]

2. Just one of the attacks on higher education, and education in general, here.

Texas keeps electing these bozos -- what a mess.

[GreenStormCloud]

4. That bill is almost certain to pass and so is an Employee Protection Act.

Gov. Perry has said that he will sign them.

Won't be any big deal. There won't be blood running in the hallways nor will there be shoot-outs in the parking lots. Nothing will happen and in a few years people will wonder what the fuss was all about.

[Atypical Liberal]

5. If I can carry on main street downtown why not main street on campus?

If I'm 21 years old, have submitted to an extensive background check, and obtained a CCW permit, Texas statistics for the last 10 years show that I am part of a group of citizens whose rate of conviction for crimes is about one-quarter of one percent. It means that I am extremely unlikely to commit any kind of crime, let alone a firearm crime.

If such a person can walk armed down main street surrounded by hundreds of his fellow citizens without incident, why can't he do this on a college campus?

[Gregorian]

6. It's a good thing I didn't have a gun when I was taking fluid dynamics and vibrations courses.

Not totally serious about that. But I can imagine there were students with a little less patience and tenacity than myself who I wouldn't have trusted being around if guns were present.

College is about the last place for guns.

What the fuck is wrong with these people! Shit for brains.

[armueller2001]

7. What's wrong with it?

Why should those licensed students that can go virtually anywhere else with their firearms not be trusted on campus?

Can you point to a single incident at the dozens of campuses that allow CCW?

[Douva]

8. In Case You're Interested

Anyone genuinely interested in learning the facts, statistics, and arguments supporting the legalization of licensed concealed carry on Texas college campuses should review this PDF document: http://www.StudentsForCampusCarry.org