Students fight for guns on campus
Aug. 20, 2007
By Claire St. Amant
City editor
In Texas, it isn't surprising to see cowboy hats, belt buckles and boots glistening under the sun. But there's one piece missing from the cowboy ensemble when Texans mosey on over to school campuses: a gun.
According to state law, guns are banned in several places, including schools, places of worship, correction facilities, bars, sporting events and other locations. Currently, individuals with concealed handgun licenses must check their weapon at the door, but maybe not for long.
In late April, Gov. Rick Perry called for "gun freedom" across Texas and said students should be allowed to protect themselves on campus. Arlington senior Andrew Sugg couldn't agree more.
Sugg is the leader of the Baylor chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a national group in favor of gun freedom in schools.
"I believe anyone with a CHL should be able to carry a gun everywhere," he said. "Most people don't even have to fire, just showing it is usually good enough (to control a situation)."
Sugg, who has been a licensed gun carrier for almost two years, recalls a time near campus in 2005 when the mere presence of his weapon distilled a potentially dangerous individual.
While Sugg was having a cup of coffee at Common Grounds, a homeless man started "aggressively" asking for money, he said. Feeling threatened, Sugg called the police, but before an officer made it to the scene, the man pulled a knife on another customer.
"I drew my weapon, the guy saw me, dropped the knife and ran," Sugg said. "I just put it back in my holster and went back to my coffee."
While this situation ended positively, Fair Oaks Ranch senior Alexandra Neville, president of Baylor Democrats, said she thinks gun control on and off campus are entirely different issues.
"What you do with your gun on your own time and for your own protection is up to you, but college campuses have their own protective measures and having students carry guns isn't one of them," she said.
Neville said students shouldn't have to worry about carrying their own gun to protect themselves because that responsibility falls more on the school and law enforcement.
"It's my belief that if you're trying to solve the problem of violence on campus, the last you would want to do is allow more people to carry weapons," she said.
Instead, Neville believes the problem could be combated with increased school counseling and preventive programs at an earlier age.
Sugg doesn't see it that way, and said he hopes people will move past the idea that "guns are bad" and recognize how they can be good, too.
"Most people who fear guns don't understand them at all," he said. "They have a Hollywood image of the gun being for the bad guy."
Josh Felker, U.S. Army veteran and owner of LoneStar Handgun in Killeen, agrees with Sugg.
"It's very important to expose people to guns and educate them about gun safety," he said. "Once people learn to use them, they usually aren't afraid (of guns) anymore."
In response to the shooting at Virginia Tech, Felker offered a free handgun-licensing course for teachers and students from May to July. Felker said around 40 people took advantage of the promotion, and while one student traveled from Oklahoma, most participants were local.
"There were quite a few Baylor students and a couple professors as well," he said.
Although guns are currently banned inside school facilities, Felker said, he hopes that will change.
"Law-abiding, licensed individuals should be able to carry a firearm because thugs and criminals will do it no matter what," he said.
Houston senior Theresa Doll disagrees.
"As an institute of higher learning, it's just not necessary to have students carrying guns," she said. "That's what law enforcement is for."
Doll, a member of the Baylor Democrats, said the right to bear arms is often overstated.
"Yes, we have a constitutional right to own and carry a gun," she said.""But that doesn't mean they have a place on college campuses."
Doll said she worries about students carrying guns and making irrational choices.
"It wouldn't make me feel safer for my roommate to have a gun," she said. "Especially not during finals when she's all stressed out."
While Doll believes shooting tragedies like Virginia Tech and Columbine need to be addressed, she said the problem is with adequate police units, not armed citizens.
"Supporting concealed weaponry is not the answer to the school shooting crisis," she said.
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Original Source: The Lariat
<a href="http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46392">http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46392</a>
Claire St. Amant
2008-02-05
Kacey Beddoes
Julie Freeman (Julie_Freeman@baylor.edu)
eng
Editorial: Gun groups gone wrong
Aug. 20, 2007
Anytime a tragedy occurs we ask ourselves how it could have happened and how it can be prevented from ever happening again. So in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre, gun rights advocates began calling for the repealing of bans on carrying concealed weapons on school campuses.
The national organization of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is one such group. There are eight chapters of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus in Texas, the most of any state.
Current Texas law forbids the carrying of concealed weapons in places like school campuses, places of worship and government property -- even if a person is licensed to carry.
Arlington senior Andrew Sugg, head of Baylor's SCCC chapter, seeks to make it possible for students to arm themselves at Baylor.
Groups like these have to use circular logic to reach their conclusions. Because a deranged individual brought guns onto campus, Sugg and others believe they should be allowed to bring theirs in order to protect themselves.
What the gun lobby conveniently forgets is that the mental history of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho should have prevented him from ever obtaining a gun in the first place. Cho's mental history was recognized by a Virginia court in 2005, and due to inconsistencies between federal and state law, he was not entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The problem is not with the laws, but with the ability of the system to work properly. If it did, Cho would not have been able to purchase a gun and the conversation may not have gone in this direction.
While it is clear that the response time of Virginia Tech's campus police was inadequate, this does not mean we should allow anyone who has gone through a criminal history check and a safety course to be a substitute for law enforcement. This vigilante attitude of circumventing the responsibility of law enforcement could potentially create many serious problems.
The majority of people who receive licenses to carry concealed weapons are responsible individuals, but they do not receive nearly the same level of training to handle situations that police do.
Although they do not receive the same amount of press coverage as a school shooting, accidents involving guns are far more common. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 776 accidental deaths and 75,685 injuries from firearms in 2001. It would be naïve to say that if bans on guns at these locations are repealed, there would be no accidents as a result.
The purpose of banning concealed weapons in certain places is because the state has a responsibility to ensure the safety of its citizens in those locations.
How wise would it be to allow someone to carry a concealed weapon to a stadium? A church? Better yet, how about an airport? Baylor police chief Jim Doak was quoted in Baylor Line magazine saying it would be "unwise" to lift campus bans. We couldn't agree more.
Baylor SCCC has good intentions at heart -- making campus safer. But before we arm ourselves, there are other steps we can take that are both easier to implement and less double-edged.
One step is to have better emergency planning. School lockdowns for threats are commonplace at our nation's high schools -- the capacity for emergency response should be no different in colleges.
Another step is to better enforce the laws and have tighter background checks. Too many loopholes in state and federal laws are allowing people who shouldn't be able to, to get guns.
Even if state laws are changed, Baylor as a private institution has the right to ban concealed weapons on its own. We hope it continues to keep its rules in place, even if state schools allow concealed carry on their campuses.
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Original Source: The Lariat
<a href="http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46387">http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46387</a>
Baylor Editorial
2008-02-05
Kacey Beddoes
Julie Freeman (Julie_Freeman@baylor.edu)
eng
Letter to the editor
Aug. 28, 2007
The article "Students fight for guns on campus" by Claire St. Amant was amazing. I feel she showed the views of both sides without offending either.
With that said, I noticed the editorial "Gun groups gone wrong."
This editorial has obviously come from a person who has not adequately researched into concealed handguns and the lawful use of them.
Each year over 170,000 crimes are deterred by law abiding, licensed people who use their weapons without firing a single shot.
Sometimes it's the mere thought of a weapon being present that can deter the crime.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is not saying that those with concealed handgun licenses should be vigilantes.
During our courses, we are taught how to respond not only if we are forced as a last resort to pull the trigger, but also how to react with police officers under any under circumstances.
I don't want to give the wrong impression when I say this, but even if Baylor police could afford to employ more officers, they can't always protect us.
There was an instance within a year prior of Virginia Tech at Appalachian Law School.
A shooter entered into the school and began shooting. Two students who were following the state laws of "no guns on campus" ran to their vehicles and broke the law to save the lives of their fellow students. They apprehended the shooter and waited for police to arrive to arrest the shooter.
There was a similar situation in Pennsylvania where a vice principal of a junior high saved his students' lives.
A madman entered the school with a shotgun and began shooting; the vice principal ran to his truck to retrieve his pistol. He returned to stop the shooter from injuring any more of his students.
Yes, our current system can be improved. In the instance of the Virginia Tech shooter, he was let through a loophole that Virginia had set up.
I agree that certain people should not be allowed to own or even touch a firearm. Texas has laws in place that make it a felony.
SCCC bases its views off of statistics and reports that we have collected worldwide.
Our information proves that allowing law-abiding citizens to carry weapons into areas significantly reduces crime.
In the U.S. it deters approximately 15 percent of all crimes and 30 percent of violent crimes.
We are asking that our respective states allow the most law-abiding citizens, with a crime rate of less than 0.001 percent, to be allowed to continue defending ourselves.
SCCC understands two things among many: one is that "gun -free zones" in America are false comforts that have given us some of our nation's worst tragedies and two, that allowing law abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons reduces crimes and equals the playing field.
We are not countering against or trying to be a replacement for law enforcement.
Those with concealed handgun licenses are a crime deterrent, practicing one of their rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
Andrew Sugg
Aviation Sciences, 2008
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Original Source: The Lariat
<a href="http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46485">http://www.baylor.edu/Lariat/news.php?action=story&story=46485</a>
Andrew Sugg
2008-02-05
Kacey Beddoes
Julie Freeman (Julie_Freeman@baylor.edu)
eng
Virginia Tech massacre an unbelievably sad event
Friday, April 20, 2007 - The China Post
A total of 32 people were killed Monday in a Virginia Tech campus building in the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history. The gunman, a student from South Korea, took down his victims in two attacks that were spread two hours apart. The tragic incident has sent shockwaves around the world.
We wish to express our sympathy to the victims' families and hope they will get all the help they need to make it through this very difficult time. The other students at the university should also be assisted so they can overcome the shock and grief they are suffering.
U.S. President George W. Bush has ordered flags flown at half staff across the nation. Speaking at a memorial service on the Virginia Tech campus, Bush said "it's impossible to make sense of such violence and suffering."
"Those whose lives were taken did nothing to deserve their fate," the president said. "They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now they're gone -- and they leave behind grieving families, and grieving classmates, and a grieving nation."
At first it was reported that the alleged killer was a student from China. Later, however, police found the gunman was a fourth-year student from South Korea, described in the media as a "loner." Authorities said he was a legal resident of the United States. The suspect committed suicide after the attacks. Police said there was no evidence of any accomplice at either of the two attacks, but are exploring the possibility.
The shocking incident has prompted debate and discussion about the prevalence of gun ownership in the United States.
An Indonesian mother, according to a news report, bemoaned the availability of guns in the United States after learning her son was among those killed in the massacre, while South Koreans expressed shame and shock that the gunman came from their country.
"Why can people bring guns to campus?" the Indonesian mother said, recalling third-year doctoral student Partahi Lumbantoruan, who had such a promising future. The family had sold property and a car to finance his civil engineering studies.
The lax gun-control legislation in the U.S. is something on which people in many parts of the world don't agree. Here in Taiwan, gun control legislation is tough and gun possession is generally confined to law-enforcement personnel. The local Gun Control Act even bans the production of toy guns that could be converted into life-threatening firearms, or those bearing similarities to real guns in appearance, material, structure and trigger device.
The strict gun-control legislation here has without a doubt played an important role in preventing violent crime from rising rapidly.
In the United States, there is a powerful gun lobby, and legislators fear that advocacating stricter gun control would result in a loss of votes. Another reason why guns are readily available is the common American belief that in a free country, citizens should be free to own guns.
The slogan of the lobbyists is: "Guns don't kill people, people do." Well, that's like saying, "Bombs don't kill people, people do."
If restrictions on gun possession in the United States were stricter, the Virginia Tech shooting rampage -- and many other campus shootings that have occurred in the past -- might not have occurred.
Hopefully, this tragic event will lead to vigorous efforts in the U.S. to pass some sensible gun control legislation.
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Original Source: The China Post
<a href="http://www.chinapost.com.tw/archive/detail.asp?cat=1&id=107654&d=2007420">http://www.chinapost.com.tw/archive/detail.asp?cat=1&id=107654&d=2007420<a/>
The China Post
2007-07-22
Na Mi
eng