Students lobbying for guns on campus
Marisa Calleja
Issue date: 4/23/08 Section: Campus Watch
Students across the country shouldn't be surprised if they see empty gun holsters infiltrating their classes this week. As part of the second "empty holster protest" organized by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, members are sporting the accessory to symbolize the restrictions institutions place on their right to carry a concealed weapon on campus for self-defense and safety purposes.
Guns to promote safety on campus? While it may seem counterintuitive, growing numbers of students across the country are expressing support for legislation and campus policies that would allow them to carry concealed weapons around their colleges and universities.
SCCC, the largest and most prominent of these groups, is pushing for universities to allow students who have met the proper licensing and registration requirements to carry concealed weapons for personal protection and in order to fight off attackers in campus shootings.
In the wake of shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, SCCC quickly grew from a Facebook group, created in April 2007 to gauge interest in the cause, to a national organization that now boasts over 25,000 members at dozens of campuses. Ninety percent of its members are students.
Though gun advocates are receiving ample media attention, they have not succeeded in passing legislation to allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus. On Virginia campuses, chapters are pushing for a law that limits the ability of state entities, including the board of a state university, to prohibit concealed handgun permittees from carrying firearms on public property. Utah is the only state that currently allows students to do so.
"When people say 'More guns equals more violence,' they make the terribly insulting assumption that all gun owners commit violence," Jason Blatt, an SCCC spokesman and medical student at the University of North Carolina, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "They fail to make the mental distinction between guns owned by good guys and guns owned by bad guys."
Guns to promote safety on campus? While it may seem counterintuitive, growing numbers of students across the country are expressing support for legislation and campus policies that would allow them to carry concealed weapons around their colleges and universities.
SCCC, the largest and most prominent of these groups, is pushing for universities to allow students who have met the proper licensing and registration requirements to carry concealed weapons for personal protection and in order to fight off attackers in campus shootings.
In the wake of shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, SCCC quickly grew from a Facebook group, created in April 2007 to gauge interest in the cause, to a national organization that now boasts over 25,000 members at dozens of campuses. Ninety percent of its members are students.
Though gun advocates are receiving ample media attention, they have not succeeded in passing legislation to allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus. On Virginia campuses, chapters are pushing for a law that limits the ability of state entities, including the board of a state university, to prohibit concealed handgun permittees from carrying firearms on public property. Utah is the only state that currently allows students to do so.
"When people say 'More guns equals more violence,' they make the terribly insulting assumption that all gun owners commit violence," Jason Blatt, an SCCC spokesman and medical student at the University of North Carolina, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "They fail to make the mental distinction between guns owned by good guys and guns owned by bad guys."