Opinion Piece on Campus Carry

[stash]

Yesterday in the newspaper there was a opinion piece in the newspaper by four individuals who have/had ties to the Virginia Tech shooting. There article was to refute the opinion of five college professors who expressed their desire to force Texas colleges to allow CC in classrooms which was in a May 1 article. Among the reasons these four brought up to keep guns off campuses that really caught my attention was the fact that the five professors failed to note in their article that a 2000 news article (not further described) reported "roughly" 3,400 CHL's were arrested or convicted of crimes 'including double murder, armed robbery and kidnaping". I know one arrest for us is to much and we are all human but 3,400 sure seems like a lot. Maybe that 2000 article included traffic tickets but is not indicated in yesterdays article. Even from the inception of CHL to 2000 that figure seems to high. (article did not indicate what years this figure encompasses)

They had some other excuses like UT has a preschool and an elementary school on its campus, not to mention a hospital (don't get that one) and God forbid a bar.

Among some of the other things that should keep us off campus is we are not required to have police training (?) and 10 hours of "target practice" (?) is not sufficient for carrying a weapon into an environment as complex as a college campus (I guess it is sufficient for a city like Dallas or Houston).

Anyway, just thought I would share what I read.

[jimlongley]

Note, carefully, the "arrested or convicted"

Some of those arrests were like Gordon Hale III, who was indeed arrested, but was "no billed" by the Grand Jury and subsequently cleared of all charges. Others include people who obtained their CHLs fraudulently.

3400 is indeed a high number, but once you weed out all of the chaff it's not nearly so high, as a matter of fact, CHL holders are ARRESTED at a lower rate than the general population.

[Douva]

The May 8, 2009, op-ed “Why the Legislature should keep concealed weapons off Texas campuses,” published in the Austin American-Statesman, dismisses a recent pro-HB 1893/SB 1164 editorial by five college professors, stating, “the authors failed to note a 2000 news article reporting roughly 3,400 Texas concealed handgun license-holders arrested or convicted of crimes including double murder, armed robbery and kidnaping [sic].”

The “news article” in question was actually a press release by the Violence Policy Center, one of America’s most radical anti-gun organizations. The press release garnered this op-ed rebuttal in the September 27, 2000, edition of the San Antonio Express-News.

San Antonio Express-News: Commentary
9/27/00

Comment: Licensed gun owners are model Texans

The malicious "License to Kill" press releases issued recently by the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., misrepresent the truth about concealed handgun license holders in Texas.

Analysts at the Violence Policy Center cite arrest statistics to argue falsely that the handgun program in Texas is a failure.

However, an unbiased comparison of arrest rates of concealed handgun license holders with arrest rates of all adults in Texas proves that the 214,000 Texans with the licenses, as a group, remain the exemplary citizens they were when they received their licenses.

(The basic data for this comparison comes from the Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau. The arrest rates were calculated using average annual population figures and average number of annual active concealed-handgun licenses).

First, the center's implication that there should never be an arrest among the 214,000 concealed handgun license holders in Texas is ludicrous. The arrest rate of clergy is not zero.

Second, the center does not differentiate between felony arrests and misdemeanor arrests.

Of the 3,679 total arrests among concealed handgun license holders in Texas for a four year period from 1996 to 2000, 889 are felony arrests. The remaining 2,790 arrests involve less serious misdemeanor charges.

Third, arrest does not mean guilt. Of the 474 felony arrests that have been resolved, fewer than half resulted in convictions.

Fourth, the data show that average annual arrests for all crimes among all adult males in Texas (9,508 per 100,000) is 14 times greater than the rate for concealed handgun license holders (671 per 100,000).

The violent crime arrest rate of all adult men in Texas (306 per 100,000) is five times greater than the violent crime arrest rate of concealed handgun license holders (62).

Furthermore, since Jan. 1, 1996, a total of three concealed handgun license holders have been convicted of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter. Only at the Violence Policy Center do three convictions in four years add up to a "License to Kill."

Since 80.5 percent of concealed handgun license holders in Texas are men, these comparisons are valid, and it is clear that the center's insinuations of a crime wave among this population are false and absurd.

To the disappointment of the Violence Policy Center and other gun control advocates, the Texas concealed handgun license program is a success and a model for other states, such as Colorado, that are considering licensing concealed handguns.

It proves that citizens who are screened by state and federal law enforcement and properly trained can be trusted to carry concealed handguns for their own protection and the protection of others.

Why does the Violence Policy Center continue its attack on Texas?

The answer probably lies in an unwillingness to present the whole truth, not to mention a callous and dangerous disregard for the lives and safety of the people of Texas by extremists for whom gun control has become a religion.

Carl M. Hubbard, Ph.D. is a professor of business administration at Trinity University.

The attached PDF file is a rebuttal to one of the other points in the Statesman op-ed.

[Skiprr]

A thread quoting this "op-ed" piece was was started May 8: http://www.texasshooting.com/TexasCHL_F ... 94&t=24762.