Student say guns may prevent attacks
Following the Virginia Tech shooting a year ago, many students and lawmakers now support concealed weapons on campus
Kristin Snowberger
Issue date: 4/22/08 Section: News
|
They will be participating in the week-long Empty Holster protest organized by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC). The national organization hopes to educate, as well as make a statement about what it considers unfair state laws and school policies.
The organization was formed last year, in the weeks following the Virginia Tech shooting. The group refers to itself as a "national, non-partisan, grassroots organization" that supports the rights of students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.
In every state except Utah, individuals with concealed carry permits are prohibited from bringing firearms onto public college campuses.
Brint Hahn, the student leader for the University of Akron's SCCC chapter since its creation last spring, said the group is not formally participating in this week's protest. He is concerned it could have a negative effect on campus.
Hahn holds a concealed weapon permit and owns several weapons.
He believes that when responsible, certified gun owners are permitted to carry their weapons, it has a positive - and deterrent - effect.
"It's going to reduce the possibility of disasters happening on campus. Having students armed is the only way to stop something like Virginia Tech," Hahn said. "It would also reduce the crime around campus."
Hahn said students need to defend themselves on campus, but also - and possibly more so - as they walk to and from campus.
"If I lived near campus, I would want to be protected," he said.
Hahn ardently believes that he - and those who have been certified by the state - should be able to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Only 11 colleges in the country - including the nine public universities in Utah - allow concealed weapons on their campuses. Two other colleges - one in Colorado, and one in West Virginia - have chosen to allow weapons on campus.
However, SCCC media liaison David Burnett pointed out that public universities in Utah still oppose the legislation, in spite of the fact that, in the more than 60 semesters since students have been allowed to carry weapons on those campuses, there have been no mass shootings, or any accidental shootings.
Be the first to comment on this story