From CBSNews -- AUSTIN, Texas – Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.
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. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he's in favor of the idea.
Texas has become a prime battleground for the issue because of its gun culture and its size, with 38 public universities and more than 500,000 students. It would become the second state, following Utah, to pass such a broad-based law. Colorado gives colleges the option and several have allowed handguns.
Clearly, the notion of a gun-free zone is idiotic as it leaves likely victims defenseless against an armed perp. That said, you can't exactly have every 18 year old and up, walking around with guns, unrestricted in any way.
I would support a policy of allowing students over 18 to carry a concealed weapon on campus as long as they show completion of a thorough safety course, retaken each year, and pass a background check that includes any mental illness diagnoses that have been associated with anti-social behavior. If that's unacceptable, then I would support training as many teachers as want to, in conceal/carry gun safety, and encouraging them to pack heat on campus. That way if some kid went crazy, there would be an armed teacher nearby to put him down before he killed too many kids.
A lot of parents hate the idea of their kids being around guns, but what's their first thought when a shooter kills kids at school? "If only there had been somebody who could have stopped the killing." A trained person with a gun is the only person who can stop the killing.
2 comments:
Ed, Texas, like other states, has laws governing carrying of weapons. In Georgia, you have to apply to your local county and provide fingerprints to pass a thorough background check. Texas probably has a similar system as the only states I'm aware of without restictions are NH and AK.
This proposal would allow those with permits to carry on campus as they do elsewhere. Under current law, if someone like my neighbor, a combat veteran Marine with a weapons permit, forgets he's carrying and goes to class, he's committing a felony that could ruin his future.
As you know, gun free zones prevent law abiding citizens from having guns. Nothing more.
The other possible downside of this is the legal exposure to the school if a kid gets killed by another student, in terms of security. You know the parents would sue the school and given that liability, how could the school afford to insure itself?
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