Annie, don’t get your gun
Don’t allow guns on campus, yet.
Shane Wade
Opinion Editor
A couple of weeks ago, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported about the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League’s planned demonstrations at state universities to protest efforts to ban the concealed carrying of guns in campus buildings.
Law can be a tricky thing, but my current understanding is that guns are not allowed on public universities’ campuses in Virginia. Although the issue of guns on campus resurfaces every few years or whenever a shooting occurs, I intend to resolve this discussion with a concise, comprehensive solution that appeals to both liberal academics and pro-gun groups.
Despite any personal misgivings I may have against the VCU police regarding bicycle policies, I trust their ability to resolve a crisis in an efficient and timely manner. I know that if a violent altercation involving weaponry occurred near or on-campus, they would be there, either to prevent it entirely or to prevent its escalation. That’s the primary reason I’m not in favor of having guns on campus. In the form of a regulated, qualified police force, we already have guns.
But to extend those same carrying rights to students, you have to suspend some logical though in order to believe that allowing students, certified or not, to carry concealed guns on campus is a wise decision. To be blunt, I find it hard to trust some students to dress themselves or bandage their own paper cuts, let alone wield a firearm. It’s trying enough for some students to turn off their phones before class, so it’s a stretch of the imagination to think they’ll be able to turn on the safety before strolling into a lecture. Allowing students, who come here to learn in a peaceable environment, to carry firearms on campus would be almost tantamount to declaring that the VCU police department is incompetent and campus is unsafe.
Proponents like the Virginia Citizens Defense League and Students For Concealed Carry would offer an argument describing a scenario where a gunman opens up on a classroom and a single student pulls out his gun, fires and brings down the gunman. But that’s an uncommon view of the situation that misses the obvious logical failings; including the possibilities that the gunman only had his gun because law allowed it and that the “hero” isn’t immediately shot. It also perpetuates the idea that only guns can protect against guns.
The conflict boils down to one issue: safety. Pro-gun groups want students to be able to defend themselves, and universities don’t want to pollute campuses with an air of potential violence by allowing students to carry firearms.
Here’s my solution: throwing knives. As the late newspaper columnist Molly Ivins said, “… I am not antigun. I’m proknife.” Call me crazy, but a solid arm and a knife to the arm or shoulder can be just as efficient in bringing someone down. Lift the ban on throwing knives, swords and all bladed weaponry and then we can consider lifting the ban on firearms. Call it an experiment, a testing period, whatever; let students wield knives, which also have practical uses, before we allow them to carry, let alone conceal, guns.
“But that’s an uncommon view of the situation that misses the obvious logical failings; including the possibilities that the gunman only had his gun because law allowed it and that the “hero” isn’t immediately shot.”
Logical failings? It sounds like you have never read a single argument by pro-rights advocates. Anyone intent on committing murder is probably not gonna worry about a no-guns-allowed sign or law. And your assumption that the hero is shot first makes a large leap that an active shooter knows who is armed and who is not.
There is no reason to believe that a student who is 21 years old and has undergone the proper background checks and taken the time to get a concealed handgun permit will suddenly become psychopathically insane just because they set foot on campus. Believing that guns have some magical powers that drive people nuts or that certain property lines are invisible force fields that protect all inside them is nothing short of silly.
It’s good to know that women are never raped or people murdered and robbed outside a classroom. Oh, they are? That’s why people need to protect themselves wherever they go, not just in a classroom! This is about individual safety, not taking over the job of the police. The same people who would be carrying on campus can already carry almost everywhere else they go – banks, malls, government buildings, theaters, restaurants. To say that they will change from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde just because they step onto a campus is malarkey.
I think the “uncommon view” is that crime doesn’t happen off campus. VCU students are targets for off campus crime because they are denied the right to protect themselves on campus. Its difficult to carry to and from class for protection when one is barred from carrying on campus. Why are we debating all sorts of classroom shooting scenarios, when we are much more likely to be the victims coming and going to campus?
FTA: “Despite any personal misgivings I may have against the VCU police regarding bicycle policies, I trust their ability to resolve a crisis in an efficient and timely manner. I know that if a violent altercation involving weaponry occurred near or on-campus, they would be there, either to prevent it entirely or to prevent its escalation.”
Oh yes, the police always show up in time to prevent the crime. NOT. When seconds count, the police are minutes away. Sir, you are uninformed.
“Lift the ban on throwing knives, swords and all bladed weaponry and then we can consider lifting the ban on firearms.” Excellent! Then we can immediatly lift the ban on firearms as most college students already carry some sort of utility blade like a pocket knife. You would also be hard pressed to find a competent maintenence worker without both a multi-purpose pocket tool (which includes at least one blade) and a “pocket knife” that can be opened with one hand. Or, are you also proposing we ban knives and forks in the dining halls? Oh, and let’s not forget to ban baseball and softball on any campus. Ever been whacked with a Louisville Slugger?
The point is that college campuses are already filled with tools that could easily turned into weapons. Yet, our college campuses are not running with blood.
I think that Shane should have done some research before writing this. Also knives are allowed on campus, while I was in college I know LOTS of people who carries pocket knives – the trial period is well over and trained licensed students should be allowed carry if they choose.
wow. not only was research required, but a writing class. the thoughts are mostly incoherent, and do not express a progression to a conclusion. your Composition 101 Prof. needs to look for new work.
it is simply disingenuous to claim that properly trained and credentialed students (or any citizen) cannot be trusted to carry a firearm responsibly. that is no more true than if you said it about properly trained and credentialed students (or any citizen) being able to responsibly operate a motor vehicle, or many other activities.
What an . . . interesting . . . essay!
The part I liked best was the idea that allowing legal carry “would be almost tantamount to declaring that the VCU police department is incompetent and campus is unsafe.”
I first attended VCU in 1970, and lived in the Fan and Oregon Hill for decades. I’ll have to say that the VCU police department has improved greatly since the days when they arrested me for reporting a wide-open building with thousands of dollars worth of equipment just inside the open doors at two in the morning, but even a casual glance at the papers will tell you that the campus is still as unsafe as any other part of the city.
I hope your assesment of the students of VCU is not widely held. I have a child there (hardly a child at 24 yrs). She has a permit to carry and is a good shot. She would carry on campus if allowed. She is a brillian woman with very high grades and deliberate common sense. She is trained in handling, use and safety of firearms. You would be quite happy I am sure to have her in your classroom or any room if you came under the threat of gun violence. I am willing to wager you would change your thinking if you needed somebody like her.