TexasCHLforum.com

frazzled wrote:

austinrealtor wrote:

frazzled wrote:I vote #3.

1. Its more relevant to the issue of CHLers as there's more there. Columbine to the contrary, public schools are safer than your average college campus.

2. I'm much more ambivalent about public schools. It definitely clouds the issue a bit to me.

Curious .....

Why is the "public school" (and I assume you mean K-12 grades since you're OK with college campus carry) issue clouded for you and why does the supposed relative safety of one venue mean it should be excluded from legal carry? A police department charity drive with 25 armed police officers handing out goodies to school children who bring in canned goods for the needy in a grocery store parking lot is even safer than your average elementary school, but I'm legally allowed to carry there.

1. I am less keen on a bunch of adults around my kids with firearms, even CHLers. Simple math. I am concerned the chance of one of the little demon seed can get a ahold of it is higher than the chances the adult is going to defend my kids from a BG.
This is balanced by the efficacy of a school employee being there to stop a Columbine cold.
2. I've also seen one too many CHLers that shouldn't have a CHL to begin with to feel safe with them around my kids. Odds are low but its a math thing again. I view most of the posters on this board as more up to speed as it were, but I've been at the range with too many yahoos who achieved CHL status to be comfortable in this context.

I should posit this by, as far as my kids are concerned I don't recognize anyone else having rights, when it comes to the safety of my kids. CHLs are for adults to protect themselves. I'll be honest and state I don't care if you are protected or not when it statistically increases the chances of harm to my children.

3. Again I'll not I'm very ambivalent on this one. As such I'd keep it to college campus carry where everyone involved is an adult.

Frazzled I respect your opinion and greatly appreciate your willingness to post it here

My problem with it is that by you forcing me to disarm to make you feel safer about your kids, you make me feel less safe about my kids. One of the most "uneasy" moments I have in any day is picking up my kids from pre-school unarmed and going through the long process of walking out the the parking lot, putting them both in the car, strapping them in their car seats etc. I'm a SITTING DUCK for about 5-10 minutes. Is it LIKELY that I'll be acosted at that exact moment? No. But it's not likely that I'll EVER need to use a gun in self-defense, so why carry one at all?

And before anyone says "just put your gun back in your holster when you get to the parking lot" - try that with a 3-year-old and a 1-year-old in a busy parking lot - if I don't have a tight grip on BOTH of them then I run the greater risk of one of them darting into the busy parking lot.

Also being forced to unconceal in my car every day puts me at unreasonable risk of someone seeing my gun and calling in "Man with a gun" to the police. I'm very discreet about it, but it's impossible to unconceal in a car without SOME possibility of being seen.

I fully understand the very real fear of "guns near children" but why does that fear trump my fear of being unarmed and vulnerable around my own children?

Purplehood wrote:I voted for all or nothing. It is my opinion that a school environment is no different than any other place. We are either responsible carriers of firearms or we are not. The locale makes no difference.
***WARNING - Thread Drift Alert!!!***
If it comes right down to it we shouldn't even have 30.06 signs. We carry concealed, we keep them concealed. If for some reason an owner of private property becomes aware that someone is carrying, then they can give that someone verbal notice. Otherwise, they don't need to know.
This brings me right back to the topic. Carrying at schools. No difference.

I liked your last slightly off-topic part so much I made a new thread out of it ... http://www.texaschlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=34422" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

frazzled wrote:I vote #3.

1. Its more relevant to the issue of CHLers as there's more there. Columbine to the contrary, public schools are safer than your average college campus.

2. I'm much more ambivalent about public schools. It definitely clouds the issue a bit to me.

Curious .....

Why is the "public school" (and I assume you mean K-12 grades since you're OK with college campus carry) issue clouded for you and why does the supposed relative safety of one venue mean it should be excluded from legal carry? A police department charity drive with 25 armed police officers handing out goodies to school children who bring in canned goods for the needy in a grocery store parking lot is even safer than your average elementary school, but I'm legally allowed to carry there.

Pete92FS wrote:

Keith B wrote:I think the issue is you listed grounds, but we can currently carry on the grounds. Did you mean 'premise' as in buildings?

That's how I interpeted it and I voted the last option. If you have passed all the background checks and have your license you should be legally able to carry anywhere. If someone is out to cause trouble they are going to ignore all the rules anyway.

nice catch guys. I've changed to "premises" in the poll. You should be able to go change your vote now, if the new wording changes your opinion.

Hi all, curious to hear everyone's reasoning for their votes too .... so a sentence or two in reply would be great .... thanks.

A few different threads going around about what we/TSRA/Legislature should focus on regarding gun-related bills for the 2011 Legislative session. A "parking lot bill" and a "campus carry bill" are the most prevalent priority issues cited, with Open Carry being the most discussed/debated.

But I (and I assume others) have an problem with the focus on college campuses with the campus carry issue. Why not push for ALL school campuses? Why should I be forced to disarm when I drop my toddler off at pre-school or a 12-year-old off at middle school? Why should I be forced to disarm if I drop off lunch for my school teacher wife?

Right now, it seems the majority rank the parking lot issue higher than campus carry because "it would affect more people". But if you change the focus of campus carry to all school campuses, not just colleges, you could bring in a huge number of "new" people to that issue. Admittedly, you could also bring in a huge amount of antis too, who don't really care about carry on college campuses but the thought of Big Bad CHLees carrying pistols around their sweet, innocent child's grammar school classroom just sends them into a tizzy. So, it's admittedly a risk.

Anyway, please make your choice in the poll question and the floor is open for debate.