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.
In Friday’s letter to the editor, (“Gun-free zones weaken daily life,” SN 4/6) Dennis argues against the ban on concealed weapons on campus. He claims that allowing students to carry concealed weapons on campus will create an air of safety, as armed civilians can respond quicker in a life-threatening situation than the police can. The problem with this argument is it assumes that armed civilians and police officers are equitably adept and responsible when the use of firearms is required.
Although civilians go through training and tests to obtain a concealed weapon permit, it is nothing compared to the extensive training law enforcement officers receive. Police officers explicitly are trained on when it is appropriate to use deadly force and when it is not; after all, it is their job to decide that on an everyday basis.
I hate to bring this up because it is currently a politically charged issue, but it is in fact perfectly relevant here. In the Trayvon Martin incident, the shooter George Zimmerman thought Martin looked suspicious and decided to follow him, even though he was told by police not to. Zimmerman, carrying a concealed firearm, probably thought, “the police aren’t here yet, I have a gun to protect myself, I’ll follow him.”
From here, whether he was confronted by Martin or not, the shooting would not have happened if Zimmerman would not have followed Martin. Zimmerman might have used the gun in self-defense, but that is irrelevant because without the gun he likely never would have followed Martin in the first place. If a trained police officer had been following Martin instead of Zimmerman the result likely would have been different. This is just one incident, but it is exactly the type of thing that can happen. The use of deadly force should not be a decision left to concealed weapon carriers, acting as a vigilante police force.
We need to trust our police force to do their job and keep everybody safe; that is part of living in a civilization.
Dan Rudnik, statistics senior
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