Guns on campus: The emotions, the opinions and the facts.

I am a law abiding citizen. I have never been arrested, I have never even received a speeding or parking ticket. I have a family that I love. I also carry a gun.

I feel that allowing students and faculty to carry on college campuses is not only the logical thing to do but it is the humane thing to do. Forcing adults to cower in the corner of a locked classroom in a school that is being terrorized by a criminal with a gun is disgusting.

Animal rights activists say "Save the whales" and people flock to them. Greenpeace says "Save the rainforest" and individuals send them donations. Gun rights advocates say "Save the people" and the masses consider them insane.

Colleges are supposed to be the place where you can find the future leaders of our country. They are the place where you can look to find some of the brightest minds in the world. Are the minds of these future leaders so feeble that they cannot be trusted with a firearm? I hear the argument that allowing guns on campus will result in drunk frat boys shooting each other and gunfights erupting over bad grades. The fact is that these are the same people that have the mental stability and self control to carry everywhere else in their normal lives yet stepping foot on a college campus turns them into binge drinking, drug abusing psychos. If the anti's are correct, we have more to fear than shootouts on college campuses.

Before concealed carry was allowed in the United States, some lawmakers and police agencies stated "Blood will flow in the streets, there will be shootouts over parking spaces and minor traffic collisions". Since concealed carry has been fairly accepted since the early 90's we have seen that none of these assumptions were correct. They were simply emotion based arguments by people that have no trust in other humans. The fact in this matter is that concealed carry permit holders are 5 times less likely to commit any type of crime than an average citizen. These are the people that we want to be carrying firearms.

The state of Utah colleges and Colorado University already allow concealed carry on campus. Throughout 60 semesters there have been no accidents, shootings or even someone spotting a gun.

I often hear the argument that if the police show up they will not know who the bad guy is. This is another emotion based argument. Sure, we all like to believe that the swat team will show up and take the shooter down. That is not the case. In fact, the last time a police officer stopped a school shooting in progress was in 1966 when Charles Whitman sat on the observation deck of the University of Texas at Austin administrative building. Police were only able to stop Whitman after some locals and students on the campus were able to pin him down with return fire from their hunting rifles, which were kept in their vehicles.

Horrible things happen to wonderful people everyday and this life isn't to be taken for granted. You are a college student attempting to better yourself through education. The sad thing is that you may not be here 20 years from now to use that education if you cannot defend yourself against a criminal

Maybe this little write up will enlighten someone. If it helps one person understand that concealed carry permit holders are not the ones to be afraid of then it has done its job.