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OPINION

Our Views: Shoot down bill on campus guns

Advocate Opinion page staff
Published: May 20, 2008 - Page: 6B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

Comments (12)

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SINGLE PAGE VIEW

Lawmakers should reject legislation that would force state colleges and universities to allow concealed weapons on their campuses.

We do not oppose mentally stable, law-abiding people owning firearms or keeping them in homes and vehicles for protection. Carrying concealed weapons, however, is a more complicated issue.

Consider a police officer or an average person encountering a stranger carrying a concealed weapon: It’s reasonable to be concerned about whether the stranger is a law-abiding person legally carrying a weapon, a lunatic or a garden-variety criminal.

It’s reasonable to prohibit concealed weapons in some places, such as barrooms, courtrooms, churches, banks and schools.

Similarly, businesses, property owners, colleges and universities should be able to forbid firearms on their premises.

A string of campus slayings has prompted calls to let students to carry guns at colleges.

In April 2007, a deranged student killed more than 30 people before committing suicide at Virginia Tech. In December, two doctoral students from India were murdered on the LSU campus, and in February a Louisiana Technical College student killed two fellow students before taking her own life.

Utah is the only state that allows handguns on campuses, and college gun bills have been rejected in several other states this year.

Rep. Ernest Wooton, R-Belle Chasse, is pushing HB199 to allow people with concealed-weapon permits to carry firearms on Louisiana’s public and private campuses, from technical schools to colleges and universities.

Wooton, a former Plaquemines Parish sheriff, said earlier this year that his proposal might “be a deterrent if one of these disturbed persons or wackos thinks, ‘If I go in shooting, they may shoot back.’ ”

One argument Wooton made for his bill also can be turned against his position.

Wooton said his bill won’t wreak havoc because just 27,000 concealed weapon permits have been issued in Louisiana in the past 12 years, and only 1,500 active permits are held by people 21 to 30 years old.


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Bruce Jackson
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
6:00 AM

VaTech had no guns. It could not have. It was against school policy to allow guns. And we all know how signs and policies stop the criminal element in their tracks! It was a gun free zone already! Welcome to shangrala! Welcome to Brady Center heaven! Welcome to one of the worst shootings in history because of policies of isolated bureaucratic elitists, who think just like you, regurgitate all across this land from their ivory towers! VaTech and NIU were both GUN FREE ZONES! We do not need fewer guns and we do not need more guns (although that would be nice). What we need is to let the law abiding folks, who desire to defend themselves, carry their firearms anyplace they choose. Law abiding folks do not go crazy just by crossing some imaginary line in the sand weather that be the property line of a college, an elementary school, a high school, a preschool, a church, a sporting event, your car, a theatre, a concert, a play, a court house, a restaurant or a bar. Carry in any of these locations is restricted in at least one state, but allowed in other states without any issues arising. State after state and place after place has begun to allow the law abiding to carry guns and there are no shootouts in the street. Parking lot disputes are not turning into bloodbaths. It does not happen. Remember, in America, there are 2.5 MILLION uses of guns DEFENSIVLY each year. Guns SAVE Lives!

Stephen
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
6:46 AM

I cannot speak about Mcneese, But I know that most of Southern University's "Police force" is unarmed. Perhaps the SU Police chief needs to look at how many of his students are probably carrying illegally, and change his mind, so that his undermanned security force can possibly get some backup. Also, If guns were allowed in the Capitol, we probably wouldnt have the same stupid legislators we suffer from currently...

Kyle
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
7:59 AM

Well, we all know that most college campuses have eliminated the 1st ammendment for students. They might as well ignore the 2nd ammendment as well.

Baba
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
9:54 AM

That last argument is just awesome. Thanks police chief Salvador.

Clay
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
10:02 AM

Strange how these shootings keep occuring in gun free zones. One might almost think that criminals and wackos don't care about laws.

Clay
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
10:12 AM

We beg to differ. Rational thought about consequences is a lot to expect from disturbed wackos. The killers at Virginia Tech and Louisiana Technical College committed suicide. Would they have been deterred by the prospect of someone shooting back? I don't know if they would have been deterred, but in the case of Virginia Tech, the nutjob might have been stopped before the body count hit double digits.

john
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
10:26 AM

The fact is we do not trust people enough to go to school with them then we should not trust them with guns. How is a teacher going to discipline a student for cheating when the teacher knows that the student may be under extreme pressure and packing heat. The campus police do a fine job of protecting students, we do not need kids with guns walking around campus. Just who would the campus police go after if a shooting did occur and when the responded they found four or five students with guns drawn? Sounds like the gun nuts will not stop until they force everyone to own guns. Enough is enough, just say no to the NRA.

Craig
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
11:55 AM

"Similarly, businesses, property owners, colleges and universities should be able to forbid firearms on their premises." Oh man, the Advocate is finally for business owner rights huh? Well the Advocate sure wasn't for business owners rights to allow smoking on their premises last year. Hey, Advocate, how about standing up for law-abiding citizens following the Constitution for a change.

Bo
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
5:54 PM

"How is a teacher going to discipline a student for cheating when the teacher knows that the student may be under extreme pressure and packing heat." How much more stupid could this statement be? Do you really think someone is going to shoot a teacher over a grade? If they are to that point nothing is going to stop them from acting out anyplace they are, they would be why you WANT to have a gun. As for the Advocates positions on issues your pretty much wrong 75% of the time especially when it comes to the publics rights and freedoms. One would almost think your being bought by the politicians (this is La. nothing is out of the question) to pander to the public your views when they want to up the police state lifestyle on us all. I think when it comes to opinions of peoples Rights under the law you should just obstain from comment all together. As a paper you have no place to interject your ideology on your readers with regards to their rights. You can talk about the Cane mill and New sewage all you care too but leave your opinions of what our rights should be in your own heads please. Report the news and move on.

Kyle
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
10:07 PM

For anyone who criticized me for commenting a couple of days ago that the Advocate's editorial staff was full of left wing, pinko, democrats, I will be waiting for your apologies after this article. Apparently I was 100% right. As always.

Rudy
Thursday, May 22, 2008
6:24 PM

To all the people who don't want guns anywhere near them. Just wait till you are in a deadly situation and a concealed handgun permit holder saves your life when you didn't even have the time to call the police, or the police had better things to do. D.C. court has ruled that the police have no legal obligation to protect individuals, only society as a whole. That's true, police can't be everywhere all the time, its up to the individual to protect themselves. I don't understand why some people are afraid of guns? At first I was against guns, but I understood the practicality of their usefulness. After a co-worker took me shooting with him the "gun bug" bit me. I have a CCW permit and I thank God every morning and nite that I didn't have to use it and pray that I don't have to use it tomorrow. But if I have to use it, to use it to stop the threat and to do it with the safe regards of others who might be around. Not to just start shooting wildly. If someone reading this doesn't like guns or is afraid of guns, you should ask someone to take you to a gun range sometime, just to see what all the fuss is about. You might realize that there was nothing to fear and that shooting is actually pretty fun. But beware, once the "gun bug" bites, you'll have an arsenal before you know it, like I did.lol.

Stephen J. Feltoon
Wednesday, Jun 04, 2008
10:59 AM

In response to Chief Salvador's question, if the Capitol has armed guards at every door, metal detectors, and bag screeners, then he is comparing apples to oranges. College campuses logistically and financially cannot accomplish have this. So while it may still not make sense to forbid CCW in the Capitol, there's a better chance that it will indeed be a gun-free zone. Opponents of CCW on campus, however, seem to think that if you put up a sign that says "no guns allowed", criminals (who, by definition, break the law) are going to listen. In regards to concerns about what an educator should do because bad grades could lead to violence, how is the current situation much different? Surely, many more students own guns than carry guns, so if one of those students currently "snaps" (as we saw at Virginia Tech and NIU), then what's to stop them from going home, retrieving their firearm, illegally concealing it, and illegally murdering someone with it? Let's not also forget the number of rapes, armed robberies, and assaults that may occur on a college campus. Why can't students protect themselves from those individuals? Admittedly, those sorts of crimes happen far more frequently than murder. Finally, I'll say this. Why can licensees carry in a 300-person movie theater but not a 300-person lecture hall? Why can licensees carry in a crowded shopping mall but not an empty field on campus? Why can licensees carry on one side of a sidewalk off campus but not the other side on campus? Good luck answering that one. Stephen J. Feltoon Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Midwest Regional Director