A cross the nation, the death toll on college campuses continues to climb. Virginia Tech, 21 wounded, 33 dead. Louisiana Tech, two dead. Northern Illinois University, at least 16 wounded, six dead. The travesty is, these deaths might have been prevented had students been allowed to carry firearms on campus.
In the wake of the Luby's massacre in 1991, the Texas legislature took the appropriate step, liberalizing concealed carry laws in 1994 despite a veto by Gov. Ann Richards. Shortly after the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, Gov. Rick Perry spoke in support of further expanding concealed carry rights, "It's time for us to have that debate in Texas from the standpoint of whether or not a law-abiding citizen in the state of Texas can take their appropriately licensed and permitted weapon anywhere in this state, whether it's on a college campus or wherever." We have yet to see similar action from either the legislature or University officials.
Many gun control proponents oppose any measure allowing concealed carry on campus because they believe it would put students and faculty at a greater risk. This belief is not, however, supported by the facts.
The Uniform Crime Report published by the FBI in 2006 stated that 400,000 crimes were committed using firearms, while, according to a survey conducted in 1993 by Gary Kleck, a criminologist at Florida State University, they are used defensively 2 million times a year. That's a rate of five defensive uses for every criminal use.
The Texas Department of Public Safety found that from 1995 to 1999, the five year period after the liberalization of Texas gun laws, the rate of aggrevated assault declined by 14 percent, robbery by 18 percent, rape by 16 percent and murder by 32 percent.
In 2007 in Texas, 91,000 concealed handgun licenses were issued. In the same year, only 483 were suspended and 422 revoked - a rate of less than one percent. Concealed handgun license holders have been shown time and again to be more law abiding than the average citizen.
If we can be trusted to carry a gun nearly everywhere else, why can we not be trusted on campus? Are we presumed to be so volatile that we might explode from the frustration of not understanding a calculus problem? Fly off the handle because we disagree with a professor's politics? Commit mass gendercide because of what we learn in Introduction to Feminism?
There is no reason to believe that concealed handgun license holders would pose a threat to fellow students, and there is no justification to continue to keep them from carrying legally licensed firearms on campus.
Allowing concealed carry on campus is not a guarantee that we won't have our own rampage, but by not allowing it we guarantee that our campus remains a gun-free zone where everyone is defenseless.
Every school shooting sparks a debate regarding gun policy - let's have that debate at Texas A&M before we become another grisly statistic.
David Morris, a senior psychology major, is opinion editor.
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