Owning A Gun Is Not the Answer

Hey Rob! Thanks for your comments!

I really appreciate your enthusiasm and you make some great points, but you need to come down off your high horse. I think that you are actually being naive in assuming that you know anything about my life and making broad assumptions just from what you see posted here.

I am definitely not naive or sheltered. I have been shot at and robbed. I have a really good friend who was raped last year, and I had a 16 year old friend who was shot and killed two years ago.

The initial question asked of me was what I thought about guns on my campus and what their role should be - as broad and as simple as that. My true thoughts and feelings about gun owning and/or carrying, self-defense, safety, violence, and so on cannot be fully expressed in the impromptu 40 second video clip or the brief posts on this page that you are basing your comments on.

As I stated before, I do not think that guns should be banned or that guns in themselves are bad or that guns should not be used by anyone or that students should not be allowed to own/carry guns, etc.

I am trying to say that I do not plan on getting or think that I need a gun to protect myself on my campus because I do not feel that it is necessary; and I encourage people to search for any ideas to increase safety whether it includes owning/carrying guns or not. How other people feel on my campus or on other campuses or at other stages in their lives about gun carrying is totally separate from my feelings about my personal safety on my campus right now.

Unfortunately, I do not know the answer for my campus or the answer to improving safety in general. I think it would be pompous to claim that I do know. What are your ideas?

I'm sorry that I don't have statistics to quote for you, but to me it seems that carrying a gun doesn't ensure your safety, but it definitely does provide more assurance that if you are attacked that you will walk away unscathed.

As I've said before, I do take my own safety very seriously and do not look to anyone else to do so. You can read above some of the things that I do to try to prevent winding up in a dangerous situation, but I am also very aware that this is not always going to be enough.

This process of commenting on videos, pods, and links on Current is about open dialog and feedback. I really encourage everyone to keep that in mind. It is one thing to ask challenging, provoking questions and another to be rude.

Nichole, thank you for being polite, reasonable, and taking responsiblity for your own safety. I'm glad you learned some self-defense. That is more than many people will ever do. I have and will continue to improve my skills and options for self-defense. Hopefully, we will never have to use any of that, but if the worst should occur, at least we are prepared.

You acknowledge that CCW permit holders are very unlikely to cause any problems. If they don't cause problems, and they have the potential to do a lot of good, why not let them carry on campus?

All of the arguments I have heard against allowing these people to carry on campus are based on illogical and unproven "what if" scenarios where the permit holders are either irresponsible or do more harm than good. I ask this to those people (not necessarily you), if a criminal is trying to kill someone, what could anyone possibly do to make it worse for the victim?

You don't offer any valid solutions for the problem. You say guns are not the answer, acknowledging personal safety is an issue for you in your area.

You say you don't know what the solution is, or should be, but that guns are not the answer.

What exactly are you basing this on? Those are empty statements backed up by absolutely nothing.

Sure, it's great to be idealistic and hope for a world where the law abiding don't feel the need to defend themselves, but in the reality the rest of us live in, people get mugged, shot, stabbed, raped, and murdered on a daily basis.

If you don't want to carry a gun, so be it. Just remember you are the only one responsible for your own safety.

Besides, if someone is attacking you, what are you going to do? You're going to call 911 so they'll send an officer out with a GUN, and you'll hope that they get there in time.

I honestly mean this with the best of intentions, but you sound incredibly sheltered and naive. Hopefully you spend the rest of your life that way, as some of us have had very close calls and understand how vulnerable they were before taking steps to ensure their own safety.

Hey Raimus! I was referring to carrying a gun, and I totally agree with you. I don't think that people with concealed carry permits will suddenly become irresponsible with their weapons when they step onto a campus or that students with concealed carry permits are irresponsible or that guns in themselves are dangerous or that people should not own or carry one. If that's how it sounds, that's not what I meant. I was just saying that I don't think I need/will get one to protect myself on my campus. As a result, I took self-defense classes and know a lot about defending myself. I am not naive, so I know it won't be as effective as carrying a gun and that I may be leaving myself very vulnerable; but for now I'm prepared to deal with that.

I disagree. Carrying (more than just owning) a firearm is a legitimate way to defend yourself. People who defend themselves with guns against violent attacks suffer fewer injuries than people who defend themselves in other ways or who submit.

Concealed carry permit holders already carry safely in a wide number of locations. It is HIGHLY unlikely that they would suffer some sort of responsibility breakdown just because they are on campus.

Nichole, I applaud your efforts to prevent facing a dangerous situation. It is always better to avoid having to defend yourself than winning a defensive fight. However, all of the steps you listed are preventatative measures. None of those things will help you if you find yourself unable to avoid a confrontation with a criminal. Please take some steps to learn and prepare to defend yourself. I'm not going to say "get a gun" because obviously you don't feel comfortable with that. Please learn some sort of self-defense. You never know if you will need it. It is better to be prepared...

thanks! that's what its all about! learning, exploring options, and actively finding what works for all of us! i'm not about banning guns on campus because I do not believe guns are bad. I'm about finding the best way to deal with a situation whatever it maybe which for me is not owning a gun (sorry to use broad terms) though for someone else it may be. I'm always up for learning more about each side of every issue! check out the blog that I posted to see what some other students think about this issue! just click on my name and it should come up.

I'm glad you read up on CCL's, I give you an A+ for being willing to learn new information. It's important to learn a lot about this subject as many people have only seen what our education system & mainstream media have put out. Since violence sells advertising the media does pay a lot of attention to bad people doing bad things with guns, so it is easy for many who have not done any research into the subject to at first glance assume guns are therefore bad.

The thing that many people don't realize is that multiple studies have shown that guns have been used for self defense purposes on average by average US citizens more than 2 Million times/year (some studies as high as 2.5 Million). Fortunately in about 98% of the cases no shots are fired - simply aiming your gun at the bad guy is almost always enough to break off an attack. No blood, no story, so these uses do not make the headline news.

Keep up the good work, at this rate you'll break out of the media blood bias mold very quickly.

No worries, I love your energy!

I'm not saying that we should use my "feelings" as a standard to judge anything by. Everyone else can and should make up their own minds as to what they think about this. The question was what do i think about guns on campus, and I don't think they're the answer necessarily, but i also don't think we can ban permit holding adults from carrying them. I just hope people explore all their options.

Speaking of exploring options, I did some reading on CCLs. It's very interesting and valid, and people who do support guns on campus or are just interested in really investigating all options/ideas should check into this b/c its gonna take a lot of different ideas and approaches to really get the results we want!

rock on!

CCLs should be allowed on campus...and everywhere. It makes people safer whether they feel it or not.
CCL holders have a MUCH safer record than law enforcement when it comes to gun accidents.
Nikki you have really been proactive in your own safety. Support CCLs on campus and go the last step. YOU don't have to have a gun or even see one.

Great semester to everyone!

Hey Blackfork! Thanks for the response, though it's a harsh one for someone you don't know. I think you read a lot of stuff into my comment that wasn't there and that maybe you are feeling. So let me make sure my thoughts are clear.

I do feel unsafe at times, but I can't spend my life dwelling on it. I definitely take responsibility for my safety and that of the people on my campus in a number of ways. I simply said that I don't think owning a gun should be one of those ways.

The ways that I deal with safety ...
1. I ride the campus shuttles to avoid having to walk home alone.

2. After a string of robberies of off-campus houses (including my own), I lead a group of students to go to a city council meeting to talk about the importance of and the need to increase police patrolling on streets closer to campus especially during school holidays when students are not home to protect their houses. I also notified the off-campus housing office of our concerns as students about the lack of support for students living off campus.

3. Whenever I have to walk home late, I let my friends know so that they are aware that I am out or make sure to find a friend who can walk me at least half-way, and I do the same for my friends.

4. I had my house checked by my landlord and police to make sure that all doors and windows were properly installed and that all locks worked so that my roommates and I will be as safe as possible. I also notified all other students living on my street of this service so that they could have it done as well.

Make sense? What about you? Do you think guns are the answer?

So, you don't feel safe but you don't want to take any responsibility for it? Well, that's your body and your choice. If you don't feel you are worth protecting then why should anyone else do it for you?