“No guns” is not the answer, and neither is “more guns.” Expanding the realm of where one can legally carry is. Would you feel safe knowing someone in your class has a pistol under their coat? What if your professor or a student has a concealed handgun permit?
Eastern Florida State College student Landrick Hamilton, 24, shot a man in the campus parking lot after getting a gun from his car last Thursday. Hamilton fled to his vehicle after Amado Contreras, 25, and his 24-year-old brother Landyer allegedly beat him with a pool cue.
Hamilton faces possible expulsion for breaking the school’s no firearm policy. The student is claiming self-defense. Florida law allows guns in public places unless posted otherwise, like schools, and in the owner’s vehicle.
Guns are prohibited at most universities in the country, with a few exceptions.
A competent and trained permit holder could prevent the next school massacre. Creating laws and limitations to prohibit arms at public universities does nothing to decrease the risk of student shooting victims.
In simplest form, a gunman cannot do harm if he is stopped by the lawfully armed chemistry major down the hall. Generally speaking, a student who is unarmed would be more defenseless than one who is.
There have been numerous college shootings in recent weeks and it is only the second month of the year. Schools are not fortified. Public universities are full of people and allow easy access to those with bad intentions.
There have been attacks on the LSU lakes, home invasions at student residences and muggings on campus last year. A firearm-friendly campus for those eligible for a permit could decrease the number of victims.
Students for Concealed Carry is “an organization composed of more than 43,000 college students, professors, college employees, parents of college students and concerned citizens who believe holders of state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that current laws afford them virtually everywhere else.”
It is understandable to fear guns if a person has no knowledge or experience pertaining to them. Firearms tend to have a negative reputation, especially at universities, because of a lack of understanding and carefully manipulated reports by news networks.
Most media coverage of gun-related incidents on school grounds seem to demonize firearms and highlight current restrictions and anti-gun law proposals followed by the backstory of the shooter. A clip is shown of the victim’s distraught family and usually an interview with acquaintances of the shooter will follow, saying something like, “He was such a nice person. I never thought he’d do something like this.”
Not every college-goer needs a gun and not everyone is eligible for a concealed handgun permit. You must be over the age of 21, consent to an extensive background check and have no history of mental illness in Louisiana to apply for a CHP. The applicant then takes courses on the state’s gun laws and gun safety before going to a shooting range with an approved instructor.
Even if one does not wish to purchase a firearm to carry after completion, the course offers information and opportunities to safely fire a gun.
I imagine more lives would be saved than lost because of a few armed students and staff.
Justin Stafford is a 20-year-old mass communication junior from Walker, La.