This to me is the key issue. Over the last few weeks I have spoken to a number of people on campus carry, mostly at work (i'm stuck there anyway). From my conversations with ~30 people I work with and have worked with a number of years, I can offer the following observations:Charles L. Cotton wrote:It's clear there is a lot of educating that needs to be done before campus-carry passes. We have to remember that the general public simply doesn't care about this issue and the idea of "guns in school" still strikes fear in the hearts of many of those who are not as well educated on the facts of concealed carry and self-defense as are those in the active shooting community. It's not their fault, nor ours, it just the way it is. We have to change that through education.
Chas.
1. Only a couple were even aware campus carry was before the legislature (they attend night school and, unfortunatley, fell into category '3' below).
2. Once informed, about half were ambivalent on the topic, although many would agree the proposed law had merit.
3. The other half did not understand why students needed guns and were against the idea (I'm working on them).
4. Not one person I spoke with would agree to call or write in support (see two and three above).
It is clear to me that we need to spend some more time educating the public on this issue, if we plan to succeed. We may also want to take a look at our 'ground game' to ensure we are effectively communicating with members of the House and Senate. I do not believe that general politician bashing serves any practical purpose--although some focussed efforts against certain individuals might be in order. But we have plenty of time to sort that out after the dust settles from this session.
In the meantime, we still have a number of items that have not reached Perry's desk. Perhaps we should focus on them instead?
