Miami University Newspaper and CCW

[ellerblr]

Just read an interesting editorial in the campus newspaper in favor of CCW on campus. Thought I'd share:


Concealed firearms on Miami's campus could help to protect students from dangerous crimes
Issue date: 10/2/07 Section: Editorials

A few months after the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and just weeks after a shooting at Delaware State University, the issue of campus safety is never really far from students' minds-especially now that Miami University has implemented their text message alert system. One thing that students need to be talking more about-however-is allowing legal guns on campus. No, I'm not crazy, and I'm fairly sober right now.

Our great state of Ohio issues licenses to carry a concealed weapon almost every day, to the tune of about 100,000 in the past three years. These 100,000 citizens are at least 21 years of age (so there go most first-year students, sophomores and some juniors), have passed a state and federal background check and have completed a 12-hour course on gun safety (including two hours of live fire training). They can carry a loaded gun in banks (you know, the places that store a lot of money), supermarkets, movie theaters, some restaurants and even uptown.

There are some restrictions, of course. For example, you can't just waltz into a police station with a gun, nor can you carry a concealed gun into bars or restaurants that serve alcohol. Drinking and even holding a gun can land you up to six months in jail. What's my point? Starting Oct. 22, I, along with more than 300 students at Miami and across the country, will wear an empty holster to class to show that citizens with their concealed handgun license (CHL) are reduced to merely an empty holster once they reach the campus.

Just bear with me for a moment. Think about all the campus crime alerts we've had-assaults, stabbings and that string of rapes last year. A concealed handgun could have stopped a lot of these crimes from happening. The argument that you should learn self-defense doesn't fly-as

was the case when a student was cut trying to wrestle a knife out of someone's hand. However, a gun would have tilted the odds in his favor. Ladies, think of the protection you can wield when some creepy guy starts following you to your dorm. I guarantee he's going to have a more challenging time assaulting you if he's staring down the barrel of a Glock.

If I'm not making a convincing enough argument, then just take a look at Utah. Thanks to the Utah Supreme Court, all-every single one-of Utah's public universities have to allow licensed individuals to carry firearms on campus. Since then, there hasn't been a single school shooting. Students there aren't getting drunk and shooting each other, the streets aren't reminiscent of the OK Corral, and people aren't turning guns against themselves-at least not more than they might have been before. Assault, rape, DUI, theft-all of these are serious crimes, but that hasn't stopped a whole lot of people if you pay attention to the campus crime alerts. Personally I say it's time for the law to be changed to allow licensed individuals the right to carry on campus. Let Utah universities be a shining example. If it's OK there and in thousands of businesses in Ohio, why can't it be OK on Ohio's campuses?

Original found here.



I look forward to the massive backlash in the letter's to the editor section. I'll try to keep you posted if there are any good responses.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[Protect]

Very nice.

[1911packer]

Excellent piece. The only thing I could think to add is the stat about 2.5 million cases a year where the presence of a gun deescalated the confrontation.

[mark555]

Good...now the powers that be just need to listen.

[Kompact9]

A friend of mine has a saying about sheeple...they've got their minds made up. Don't try to confuse 'em with facts...it'll just give 'em a headache.

[TN_Mike]

That is a pretty well written editorial. I would hope the powers that be would listen to the advice that is offered and see the light. Alas, that will not happen as we all know.

As said before, the sheeple already have their minds made up. I can't imagine what would make them change their minds.

[BigEFan]

Well written!

[Dusty Miller]

Just think what COULD'VE happened if only one person (an otherwise law-abiding citizen) had been carrying illegally at VT. Maybe he/she would'n have saved all thirty two of those students but a signifigant number would be alive today if he/she could've gotten one single shot into that perp's COM.

[retsupt99]

Good points...well done!

[LongRider]

Having kids in college makes this a huge issure for me. Hope he succeeds and starts a national trend.

[LongRider]

Having kids in college makes this a huge issue for me. Hope he succeeds and starts a national trend. Seems to me colleges should offer self defense hand gun courses. Maybe offset some of the liberal anti gun rhetoric so many colleges brain wash the students with.

[Derrin33]

So very well written. I'm glad to see something like this. The sheeple just assume that if you have a gun, your some crazed gunman looking for a reason to shoot. It's sad world these days ain't it?

[ellerblr]

As promised, a letter to the editor in The Miami Student with a counterpoint to the article published earlier in the week.

Carrying guns on campus should not be encouraged

Stephen J. Feltoon's Oct. 2 guest viewpoint supporting the allowance of concealed firearms on Miami University's campus was one of the more out-of-touch and foolhardy articles I have seen in this newspaper.

Feltoon's logic for allowing students to possess guns on campus centers around the influx of Campus Crime Alerts in recent years, and how possessing a gun would have saved the victims of some of those crimes. Excluding burglaries, this year's Campus Crime Alerts have been about assaults occurring in the early hours of weekend mornings, and, as Feltoon points out, some have involved victims being attacked by knives (there have been no reported rapes). Feltoon, the detective that he is, observes that guns trump knives, and thus the crimes would have been averted if the victim had a gun to protect themselves.

Assuming the potential victim immediately recognizes the attacker as such and is not jumped from behind, this might be true. But look at what times these crimes occurred. Miami students tend to drink on the weekends, and it is unlikely the victims weren't drunk or hadn't been drinking at the time of the attacks. As Feltoon recognizes in his article, the law says you can't go into a bar with a gun and "drinking and even holding a gun can land you up to six months in jail." So, if following the law, most potential victims would likely not even be carrying the gun they own at the time they are likely to be attacked.

Most importantly, in most cases the crimes occurred off campus, not on it. So why is Feltoon proposing that Miami allow students to carry guns on campus? Perhaps the university has no legal authority to prohibit gun possession on campus (as the Utah Supreme Court ruled in that state), but why advocate campus gun possession? Feltoon lazily bases his case on his perception that guns stop crime, and if Miami students have guns on campus, there will in turn be less crime. What he fails to consider is that there is hardly any violent crime on Miami's campus.

Found Here

[jeep45238]

Having kids in college makes this a huge issure for me. Hope he succeeds and starts a national trend.

Trust me, we're working on it.