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The Main Point: DAUNTING DECISION
Apr 28 2009 - 10:13pm | By University Star Editorial Staff


The Texas Legislature is taking an intrusive solution to a delicate problem.

If passed, bills going through the House and Senate would prohibit universities from banning handguns on their campuses. The University Star editorial board opposes handguns on university campuses in general, but this is the worst solution, barring making handguns mandatory.

If nothing else, it should be up to regents and university administrations whether handguns are allowed on their campuses. This is how it works in 23 other states, and only two universities have allowed handguns on campus.


Furthermore, any guns on campus could make people feel insecure in a learning environment. Students, faculty and staff deserve a sense of security on the campus. To make the university community uncomfortable and insecure on campus is unfair.


Proponents argue an “invisible line” is separates campuses from the areas’ license holders can carry firearms. However, university campuses house students who need to feel protected. Students have enough to worry about without adding concealed weapons to the mix.


According to an article in the April 22 issue of The University Star, last week’s empty holster protest, in which supporters of concealed carry sported empty gun holsters, “symbolizes how (students, faculty and staff) are left unarmed and defenseless on campus.”


The protestors might feel defenseless, but it is hard to imagine how guns would better protect them. In the event of a Virginia Tech style shooting, even a veteran weapons handler would have a hard time collecting his or her wits to fire back. In warfare, a small group of soldiers can take out a large one in an ambush, and those are professionals. It is doubtful a student, even one with shooting experience, would be able to stop a killer. The best thing to do would be what the University Police recommend: run.


Michael Guzman, president of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, has said guns would also help protect from assaults and more regular crimes. These are real threats, but there are better, more practical ways to defend oneself. No one is a functioning human being after getting hit with pepper spray or electrocuted with a taser.


Faculty senators openly spoke against the bill, as did Texas State and University of Texas students when they walked out of class to protest at the Capitol. The bill is expected to pass, but that does not mean those who want a secure university have to take it lying down. The more the Legislature knows about how people feel about this issue the better.


English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Do guns trump the two?

English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Do guns trump the two?

Keith B wrote:

English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Do guns trump the two?

Yes.

English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

...university campuses house students who need to feel protected

Fangs wrote:So are the students terrified to leave campus because of all the guns legally carried "out there"?

Police Capt. Paul Chapa said the University Police Department’s staff consists of about 90 members. Of those members, 33 are state-certified commissioned officers.

The number of commissioned officers on duty at any given shift is about three.

Chapa said UPD is adequately staffed, though additional officers could be useful.

“We are definitely meeting the needs of the community,” Chapa said. “But, we could always use additional manpower.”

The Main Point: DAUNTING DECISION
Apr 28 2009 - 10:13pm | By University Star Editorial Staff

...No one is a functioning human being after getting hit with pepper spray or electrocuted with a taser...

Maybe the author missed this story of 2 deputies that were killed by a suspect that was stunned by a taser.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida ... 24665.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Even better how about stories like this that never make it to the mainstream news.

http://m.rgj.com/news.jsp?key=70052&rc=lo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Concealed Carry Holder who stopped the guy while he was reloading. Move to these I found referenced in a recent opinion article (http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/o ... i-gun-bias" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;):

1997, Pearl, Mississippi: A 16-year old boy stabs his mother to death, then goes to the local high school to continue his rampage with a rifle. An assistant principal hears the gunshots, retrieves a pistol from his truck, and confronts the assailant. The boy surrenders.

1998, Edinboro, Pennsylvania: A 14-year old boy opens fire at a high school graduation dance being held at a local restaurant. The restaurant owner confronts the boy with his shotgun, who surrenders.

2002, Appalachian Law School: Two law students with law enforcement and military backgrounds run to their cars, grab handguns, and stop an expelled law student on a rampage.

2005, Tyler, Texas: A distraught man ambushes his estranged wife and son as they are entering the courthouse for a child support hearing. After killing his wife and wounding several deputies, armed citizen Mark Wilson intervenes with his handgun and shoots the spree shooter. The shooter is wearing a flak jacket and kills Wilson with return fire. Wilson’s actions broke up the attack and gave law enforcement officers time to organize a response that ended with the shooter’s death. Wilson is later honored by the Texas legislature.

2005, Tacoma Mall: A spree shooter with a criminal record and five days’ worth of meth in his system opens fire at the Tacoma Mall. Concealed carry permit holder Dan McKown intervenes, but gives a verbal warning instead of shooting. McKown is shot and receives a spinal injury that leaves him paralyzed, but the shooter retreated into a store and took some hostages after being confronted. After complaining about life’s travails to his hostages for several hours, he is taken into custody and sentenced to 163 years in prison.

2007, New Life Church, Colorado: Volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam shoots a spree shooter as he enters the foyer of a church. The spree shooter’s blaze of glory is over, so he shoots and kills himself.

2008, Israel: A Palestinian man goes on a killing spree in the library of a seminary. Police officers stop at the door and do not go in after him. Student Yitzhak Dadon draws his gun and engages the shooter, wounding him. Part-time student and Israeli Army officer David Shapira blows past the cops, demanding a hat to identify him as a police officer and not the assailant, before entering the building and killing the spree shooter.

2009, Houston, Texas: Distraught woman enters her father’s workplace and shoots one man with a bow and arrow. She points a pellet gun at two employees, both concealed handgun permit holders, who shoot her. Police show up and she points the pellet gun at them. They shoot her again and take her into custody.



Maybe the author should start to find some facts about the opposing view rather than relying on an imagination that cannot concieve these events that have been played out in real life already. Some of us who carry do feel they would stand a chance to stop the situation, not necessarily prevent it, but at least make it less than what the ones where a CHL holder was denied his second amendment right.