Dear Editor:
The board of governs should have the courage to not back down from litigious the threats of the RMGO. How can they be sued when they reserve the right under Colorado law to decide whether students, faculty, staff, or guests can carry concealed weapons on campus?
If the main reason behind being able to carry a concealed weapon is to increase safety and ultimately prevent the next Virginia Tech, what happens when responding police authorities arrive on the scene? How do they distinguish between friend and foe if many are running around with weapons? Increasing the amount of armed people in one of these situations will only add to confusion and may get more innocent people hurt.
I feel more threatened with the prospect of concealed weapons on campus. Increasing the amount of guns is hardly the answer. Take the shootings at Fort Hood for example. Nadal Hasan was able to rampage around an Army post (an environment full of armed men and women who are trained in armed combat) and ultimately kill 13 and wound 30. The shootings were only halted when a civilian police officer shot Hasan.
This example coupled with the fact that not one of the school shootings have been thwarted by someone carrying a concealed weapon (legally or illegally) shows good evidence that allowing students, faculty, and staff to carry concealed weapons will do little to stop another school shooting tragedy.
The gun ban policy prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons needs to be implemented on CSU’s campus.
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I couldn't agree more with this letter. I am usually proud to say I live in Fort Collins but the fiasco created by gun-toting fear-mongerers is embarassing. Even more embarassing is that the Larimer County sheriff Jim Alderden decided he should get involved. The Coloradoan reported his showing up on CSU's oval to express his disagreement with the ban. I guess once Balloon Boy faded he needed another venue to promote himself but this is strictly a collegiate decision, not a governmental one. I have to wonder at the resistance to this--even when legal students who have guns have to register and store them with university police so its not like there are a lot of students walking around with concealed weapons. Coming to college is disorienting enough and the idea of freshmen newly exposed to the college social scene and the stress of classes carrying guns is just plain scary.
ReplyDeleteThank you both for the information regarding the situation around CSU and Fort Collins in general. I'm very familiar with areas where guns are apart of peoples culture, hobbies, and lifestyle, but even at that I must agree with idea that they do not belong in school. I like what Laura said about "college being disorientating enough" to bring such deadly weapon in the mix. I feel with drinking and assault already being high in most Univerity settings, adding guns could be lethal. I would like to hear some solutions to helping solve situations where someone can go on a killing spree. I hate to think that issues like this should even be having to be dealt with however, because its happen so often, I see where an emergency response should be in place for incidents like this. We already have a unique police force on campus. I once heard that training the students to react to a situation to stop a terroist instead of being victimized would be better than just allowing them to be injured but I have not been too convinced of this process either. A place where liberty and freedom is highly valued still creates a vulnerable environment.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteI have been on a lot of army bases and seen few guns. The guns that are on base, other than military police or armed security forces, are tightly controlled. I have seen bases locked down searching for a missing weapon and have spent hours looking for a missing weapon in the field.
To your point though, I agree that allowing concealed weapons on campus is asking for trouble. Weapons in classrooms and dorms do not seem like a good plan to me. Teaching to a classroom full of armed students gives new meaning to staying on task and focused. A student taking a weapon out to make sure the safety is on or clearing the chamber in class would make me nervous.
Shootings in college and universities are still rare and arming the student body is not the answer. Teaching students to be aware of people and their surroundings, having reaction plans in place, along with faculty training are in my opinion a better plan.
If there were to be a cross national allowance of concealed weapons on campus as dangerous as that would be, what is the law for who knows who has that concealed wweapon? Would a teacher know if a student had a weapon and vice versa? It is certainly a dangerous situation in a classroom or campus setting. One thing that I would like to bring up is perhaps the idea of home protection if you are faculty or staff in residence. I came from Florida where it was so simple to get your concealed weapons license and I had a pistol in my home for protection as well as in my vehicle. Im not a gun nut but I do feel safer with my family having in possession in my home, however, since I live on campus and that is my home I now do not have the right to contain a weapon in my home on campus. Now there may be an argument that students living in the dorms would consider that home as well and therefore should be able to protect their home and I understand the reasons why a student should not be allowed, but what about the adult professionals living on campus? I dont think I would care since AI no longer have a gun possession I was just wondering.
ReplyDeleteRay,
ReplyDeleteMy point is not made from general assumptions, but personal experiences. I understand Army posts do not have arms lying around, available to any person. I understand they do have many protocols when it comes to their weapons. However, at any given point, there are soldiers who are either assembling their weapons, marching with their weapons, or shooting their weapons on the firing range. One of the main purposes of the military is to train men and women to use weapons, and in combative, potentially violent situations. Bringing me back to me initial point in my letter; an Army post would be one of the more difficult places than many other arenas to get away with this sort of rampage shooting, especially schools. If having more guns available in this environment is not helpful, it would stand to reason tantamount in school environments.
The right to protection is something that definitely stirs the pot. Not everyone is even in agreement with what is meant by:
ReplyDelete"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
Are firearms necessary to ensure security? Looking at the RMGO webpage, they take issue with the lack of concern for law that is inherently connected to crime. Someone who has their mind made up that they want to cause harm to students or faculty in a university (eg. the disgruntled faculty who shot her colleagues in a meeting room) can cause more damage in an environment where people wait for a police staff that is reactionary in nature. How many lives could be saved if there were citizens among us responsibly carrying guns in an effort to protect and uphold harmony in times where troubled persons seek to threaten the whole?
The interesting dichotomy surrounfing guns in higher education is should students have a right to carry in a place of learning, refinement, and growth? I do not waiver in my belief that faculty and staff at a state institution have a legal right to carry. The law stipulates that citizens have the right to carry in such public places, however, even I am concerned at the notion of students carrying on campus.