Editor’s Note: Views expressed in guest columns and letters to the editor reflect the views of the author, not the views of The State News.
With a bill proposed that would allow law-abiding citizens with a concealed weapons license to carry their guns on campus, a lot of people now are wondering if college students really can handle the responsibility of carrying a weapon on campus. But this Monday, seven students were gunned down at a California college on the same day that marked the beginning of the empty-holster protest by students for concealed carry.
Maybe I’m missing something, but can someone explain to me how disarming the innocent, law-abiding citizens protects them?
Self-defense is a human right. We should be able to know that if someone bursts into our lectures or our library as we study, we are not helpless. Our only defense shouldn’t be crawling to a phone, dialing 911 and waiting for the police to arrive. The average response time for the police is 10 minutes, but it would take less than a few seconds for staff or a student to unholster a gun and fire. In those situations where an armed crazy person can kill people in seconds, I don’t want to have to wait minutes to be “saved.”
How is attending the funeral of our friends and teachers, or a student lying dead after being sexually assaulted and murdered, somehow morally superior to someone standing in court and explaining how the individual, who came to campus that day with the intent to kill students and staff, got those fatal bullet holes?
To the argument that college kids shouldn’t have weapons by some perception that we are too immature, let me remind you that we are adults, and in order to have a concealed pistol license, we had to undergo training and pass background checks. These are not drunken kids running around, these are decent, law-abiding adults, who want to be able to defend themselves if that unthinkable situation arrives.
All gun-free zones accomplish is the creation of an environment rich with people who can’t defend themselves. We’re all essentially sitting ducks, waiting for the next crazy person to snap. Such a person might think twice if they knew some of those sitting ducks were armed.
Katiana Haratsis, animal science senior
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