 "Photo: Chris Griffin")
For some, it's hard to imagine that in every movie theater, there are people carrying concealed weapons. If you've ever seen me at the movies, you probably didn't know I was carrying a loaded pistol, and you probably didn't know others were doing the same. If you've ever seen me around town and I wasn't in a bar or on my way to or from campus, I was carrying a handgun.
I'm a concealed handgun license holder, one of more than 300,000 in Texas. I'm also a college student, so I spend the majority of my time unarmed because I'm on campus. The law and University policy prohibit me from carrying a weapon in class, sbut that may change. House Bill 1893 has passed through the Public Safety Committee and is moving to the U.S. House for a vote.
The committee agreed that adult students, faculty and staff who have been issued a Concealed Handgun License by the state of Texas should be able to protect themselves in campus settings just like they are able to do almost anywhere else. The Brady Bunch are up in arms over the issue, but they haven't a leg to stand on. The arguments I always hear against allowing concealed carry on campus invariably include "College students aren't mature enough," "The college environment is plagued with alcohol use, high tensions and rampant emotional turmoil," and the misguided "This will only complicate the situation for responding police." As a 22-year-old college student, I must be too immature, too emotional and too out of control to handle a firearm, but Texas doesn't think so. To get issued my CHL, I had to:
1. Be 21 years old
2. Have no criminal history
3. Not be under a protective order
4. Not be chemically dependent
5. Be of sound mind
6. Not be delinquent in paying fines, fees, child support or student loans
7. Be eligible to purchase a handgun by completing the National Instant Criminal Background Check System check
8. Complete required training
Though the editorial board of The Battalion has claimed "Restrictions [...] can easily be dodged and/or finagled to meet certain individual circumstances," such statements have no basis in fact. The Texas CHL system is a model for other states and has made converts of many an opponent. It took six months of waiting and a lot of paperwork to get my license and, as a U.S. Marine, you'd think it would be easy for me to "finagle" my way out of some of the requirements.
We're not talking about kids fresh out of high school totin' their pistol belts to class; we're talking about responsible, licensed adults more than 21 years of age. Have I mentioned that in Texas, a person with a CHL is 5.7 times less likely to commit a violent crime and 13.5 times less likely to commit a nonviolent crime than the average Texan? Not only are permit holders qualified - they're model citizens.
The law prohibits license holders from carrying under the influence of drugs or alcohol everywhere else, so why should campus be any different? Why are opponents of concealed carry on campus so convinced that a well-trained, levelheaded individual will suddenly become an emotionally-driven psychopath when he steps into the classroom?
Similar "blood will run in the streets" scenarios were imagined in opposition to the original passage of the Texas CHL law in 1995. These dramatic scenarios didn't play out in real life. The year after Texas started issuing CHLs, Texas murder rates fell 50 percent faster than the national average. The rape rate fell 93 percent faster that year, and it fell 500 percent faster the next year. The same irrational fears are being espoused today, and if concealed carry on campus passes, I'm confident we will see similar results: a reduction in crime and proof that these fears were unfounded.
To the argument regarding complications for law enforcement: the Northern Illinois University shooting saw a police response time (by some accounts) of under 30 seconds. An incredible feat, and I commend them for it, but in those 30 seconds, the gunman killed five students, injured 17 more and shot himself. It takes less than a second for me to draw, aim and fire my pistol, and when seconds count, the police truly are only minutes away.
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