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
Don't Conceal This Debate
<p>Tom DeLay</p>
<p>Former Tennessee Senator and potential presidential candidate Fred Thompson had a very interesting article in the National Review on April 20th entitled, "Signs of Intelligence?" which dealt with concealed carry laws on the Virginia Tech Campus. In the article he writes,</p>
<blockquote>Still, there are a lot of people who are just offended by the notion that people can carry guns around. They view everybody, or at least many of us, as potential murderers prevented only by the lack of a convenient weapon. Virginia Tech administrators overrode Virginia state law and threatened to expel or fire anybody who brings a weapon onto campus...</blockquote>
<blockquote>...So Virginians asked their legislators to change the university's "concealed carry" policy to exempt people 21 years of age or older who have passed background checks and taken training classes. The university, however, lobbied against that bill, and a top administrator subsequently praised the legislature for blocking the measure.</blockquote>
<blockquote>The logic behind this attitude baffles me, but I suspect it has to do with a basic difference in worldviews. Some people think that power should exist only at the top, and everybody else should rely on "the authorities" for protection.</blockquote>
<p>To read the article in its entirety click <a href="http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTIwYzMyZmQ1YzQ1MDNmZTMyYzQ1Y2U3YTU4YzNmNGE=">here</a> (and I would encourage you to do so because Senator Thompson makes a lot of sense on this issue).</p>
<p>I did some research on my own on the background of this Virginia Tech concealed carry debate and I found <a href="http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/80510">this article</a> in the Roanoke Times submitted by a Virginia Tech graduate student during August of last year. Entitled "Unarmed and Vulnerable" it is written by a Mr. Bradford Wiles and it says this,</p>
<blockquote>On Aug. 21 at about 9:20 a.m., my graduate-level class was evacuated from the Squires Student Center. We were interrupted in class and not informed of anything other than the following words: "You need to get out of the building."</blockquote>
<blockquote>Upon exiting the classroom, we were met at the doors leading outside by two armor-clad policemen with fully automatic weapons, plus their side arms. Once outside, there were several more officers with either fully automatic rifles and pump shotguns, and policemen running down the street, pistols drawn.</blockquote>
<blockquote>It was at this time that I realized that I had no viable means of protecting myself...</blockquote>
<blockquote>...This incident makes it clear that it is time that Virginia Tech and the commonwealth of Virginia let me take responsibility for my safety.</blockquote>
<p>Given the horrific nature of recent events, Mr. Wiles' article has certainly become even more prescient and chilling. Would that Bradford had been in the engineering building that terrible day with the correct law in place - perhaps the tragedy may have ended very differently.</p>
<p>There are many who view supporters of concealed carry laws as fringe crazies who envision life as some kind of ongoing shootem' up western movie. However, statistics don't lie. Jurisdictions which allow responsible citizens the free exercise of their Second Amendment rights have lower levels of violent crime. Ask most incarcerated criminals whether they take into account existing gun laws in choosing their targets and where they will commit a crime and the answer is a resounding yes.</p>
<p>Call me a crazy if you wish, but I think this pro Second Amendment Argument of mine and others bears listening to.</p>
<p>Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 09:41AM by Tom DeLay</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Original Source: <a href="http://www.tomdelay.com/home/2007/4/26/dont-conceal-this-debate.html">http://www.tomdelay.com/home/2007/4/26/dont-conceal-this-debate.html</a></p>
<p>Licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5</a>.</p>
Tom DeLay
2007-05-25
Brent Jesiek
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
eng