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January 27, 2010 8:08 PM
Weapons for Professors?
Arizona State Senator Jack Harper, a longtime gun advocate, has sponsored a new bill to allow professors to carry concealed firearms on campus. According to an article in the Arizona Republic:
Harper said an Arizona university professor, who feels like staff are “sitting ducks” on campus, brought the issue to him. He said his intention is to limit the bill to college faculty and not expand it to students and other staff.
He believes the legislation will make college campuses safer by deterring criminals. It would eliminate what is essentially now a “defense-free zone” with only campus police permitted to carry guns.
Because, you know, obviously more guns are exactly what American colleges need to promote safety on campus.
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surlybastard on January 28, 2010 2:15 PM:
Oh, if only I could bring a pistol to my class.
kevino on January 28, 2010 9:31 PM:
RE: "Because, you know, obviously more guns are exactly what American colleges need to promote safety on campus."
Well, if the guns were in the hands of police or campus security forces, then more guns will promote safety. Don't you agree? Or do you think that the professors are not mentally competent or that self defense is beyond their capabilities?
Sebastian-PGP on January 28, 2010 9:48 PM:
You can openly carry or concealed carry throughout the entire state of AZ. Many college employees presumably do, indeed hundreds of thousands of people across the state carry every day without incident.
Why would this utterly inconsequential practice, which poses no problem and actually makes the general public safer by giving the bad guys something to worry about, suddenly become a problem when otherwise law abiding folk walk onto campus?
Gun prohibition certainly didn't stop Seung-Hui Cho from shooting up the campus at VT. Anyone determined to shoot up a classroom isn't going to be dissuaded by your petty no guns sign. Anti gun folk seem to so rarely stop and think about whether the policies they espouse are either logical or likely to have any effect. In a vain effort to stop the deranged folks who aren't ever going to give a darn what the policy says, we end up making everyone a potential victim by denying them the means to self defense.
alexandrian on January 29, 2010 2:02 PM:
Actually, I do personally know some mentally unstable professors who would pose a pretty serious problem if they were armed on campus. And, uh, to paraphrase: 'Gun laws certainly didn't stop Seung-Hui Cho from shooting up the campus at VT.'