Utah Supreme Court ruled the law allows guns on U of U campus

[Ceicei]

I think this is a terrific thing! When I used to be an instructor at Utah Valley State College, they allowed us to carry guns as long as we had a concealed carry permit. It is about time for U of U.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4307062

- Ceicei

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Apparently some people think crimes don't happen on campuses.

Jeff

 

[Rich Parsons]

Apparently some people think crimes don't happen on campuses.

Jeff

Well in many states the Campuses report crimes separately from the city. And some even skew the reports so if a student who is a resident on campus is part of a crime off campus it is included with the campus stats. This way the "City" seems safer and the marketing is good for both the city and the college/university.

So it is nice that one state has done this. Maybe more will follow.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

When my wife was doing research work at Purdue, the official policy was no firearms on campus except for the campus police.

However, I was told by several officers from that department, one of whom owned the shop where I did a lot of my firearms purchases at that time said to ignore it. If you had a permit and were doing no wrong, they would let you. This was at a time when there were many rapes occurring on campus.

Jeff

 

[Makalakumu]

Finally, a little reason. Banning guns on college campuses assumes the criminals will just leave theirs at home...

Yeah right.

 

[KenpoTex]

Good for them! College campuses can be bad places, especially because most of them do not allow weapons of any type.

 

[michaeledward]

Of course, this should be allowed, but it should also be rare.

There are two images in my mind when I hear Campus and Guns.

One is the sniper in the clocktower, pinning down students in the courtyard. The other is Ohio State.

Neither is a pretty picture, and I'm not sure carrying on one of those days would have made a damn bit of difference.

 

[Grenadier]

Michaeledward's example of the Texas Clock Tower Sniper only further emphasizes that law-abiding citizens are certainly different than the criminal thugs that would thumb their noses at the laws.

Let's take another look at the Charles Whitman incident.

What many reports fail to tell, is that there were armed citizens who kept Whitman pinned down, while the police officers rushed him. Whitman was too occupied with the citizens who were returning fire, that he did not notice the officers, who thankfully ended the carnage.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/news_8_explores/ut_tower_shooting/?ArID=167519&SecID=552

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BTT/is_152_25/ai_72293265/pg_2

I doubt that anyone would dispute, that had those armed citizens not gotten involved, that the carnage would have been even worse. Whitman had plenty more ammo.

 

[Ceicei]

Another article on the Utah issue http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4311399. There are, at end of the article, some comments said by a few students. The one I thought really interesting was this comment:

Quotes:
"I feel uncomfortable [with guns on campus]. I feel really safe on campus, and I don't feel a need to protect myself. Allowing guns on campus is an invitation for an accident to happen."

ERIKA THOMPSON
Graduate student in educational leadership and policy

The University campus is not free from crime. I wonder if she realizes that the campus police (and perhaps others) may not always be there before or at the time of need should something happen to her.

- Ceicei

 

[KenpoTex]

Of course, this should be allowed, but it should also be rare.

There are two images in my mind when I hear Campus and Guns.

One is the sniper in the clocktower, pinning down students in the courtyard. The other is Ohio State.

Neither is a pretty picture, and I'm not sure carrying on one of those days would have made a damn bit of difference.

Students who had firearms readily available (well...in their cars) made a difference at the Appalachian Law School in 2002. Too bad they both had to retrieve their weapons from their cars or it might have been over sooner.

note: due to the media's reluctance (if not refusal) to mention gun use in a positive way, only a few articles mention the fact that the students actually had the shooter at gunpoint before they restrained him (but that's another discussion)

 

[7starmantis]

"I feel uncomfortable [with guns on campus]. I feel really safe on campus, and I don't feel a need to protect myself. Allowing guns on campus is an invitation for an accident to happen."

ERIKA THOMPSON
Graduate student in educational leadership and policy

Wow this is a dangerous mentality considering these few statistics....

• 83% of rape cases are ages 24 or under.
• 1 in 4 college women have either been raped or suffered attempted rape.
• In the United States, 1.3 women are raped every minute. That results in 78 rapes each hour, 1872 rapes each day, 56160 rapes ech month and 683,280 rapes each year.
• The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. U.S. Justice Department statistics are even lower, with only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes being reported to law enforcement officials.
• 77% of rapes are committed by someone known to the person raped.

I'm not trying to be a fearmonger, but c'mon. The idea of ever really feeling like you dont have to defend yourself, especially in a "public" place is naive. Allowing educated and law abinding citizens the right to carry guns on campus is much safer than the inability to control the uneducated unlawful carrying of guns on campus.

JMHO,
7sm