Posted on 02/04/2006 7:15:54 PM PST by SJackson
Our Thursday story about a proposed bill that would allow guns onto college campuses drew quite a response.
Thanks in large part, apparently, to a call to vote from the conservative Web site freerepublic.com, our poll question garnered more than 2,000 votes -- more than 90 percent in favor of the legislation.
And more than 30 of you visited the roanoke.com message board to voice your own opinions. Here is a sample of what you said:
>I am for gun rights but changing this could endanger lives, it's all about someone having the power to say no to carrying a weapon and the masses do not like it. -- tyreesr
>As a VT employee, I know that the university campus is not immune from having crime. Cops do their best, but they can't be everywhere at once! People need to have the option to protect themselves, and I see no reason why people who have the training required to get a concealed weapons permit should be barred from carrying their weapons on campus. -- angelava
>It's completely unfair to create a patchwork of laws across the state so that a law-abiding citizen legally carrying a gun becomes a criminal just by crossing the street. -- benminer
>No police organization has a specific duty to protect individuals. The only truly reliable defense is self-defense. -- 3fgburner
>The proposed legislation does not go far enough toward promoting safety on campus. I'd rather see state colleges and universities issue handguns to all students, a adopt a rule requiring they be carried at all times on campus. -- devoutchristian
>Anyone who knows Tech, or VCU, or any other campus for that matter, knows that boundaries are crossed as simply as crossing a street, or sidewalk. Town of Blacksburg is OK to carry, Tech, no. Or Richmond vs. VCU. Get my point? Students typically cross these borders several times a day. Essentially, to ban guns from campus, schools are disarming citizens from the "real" world. -- HokieCHPholder
>I think that any faculty and/or staff member that has been issued a permit to carry a gun should be allowed to carry that gun in their vehicle on a college campus. I'm not sure they need to have it on their person.
I do not think that ANY student (high school and/or college) should be eligible to get a permit to carry a gun!
There are somethings that are or should be reserved for adults. -- brownark
>What I would like to know is what VT will do when a student who is CHP holder is assaulted, raped, or killed on their watch, and either the victim or the bereaved family of the victim slaps VT with a big lawsuit for keeping that person from protecting themselves!?!?!? Wouldn't they be held liable? -- AndrewY
>Virginia law was specifically amended in 2003 by the General Assembly to allow even minor high school students to keep unloaded guns secured in their vehicles on K-12 school grounds. So who the heck is any VA college president to then tell these same folks when they graduate from high school that they **lose** gun rights by going to college? -- majstoll
> If a person has gone thru the minimum standards of what I believe should be and that's 4 hours gun safety and 100 rounds on a qualified firing range... and has a conceal carry should be allowed to carry on a university campus -- bondsman1
Hey Jim, I missed the call to vote...
We want to preserve their liberties - for the common good.
The mere presence of a gun can deter crime.
I want to hear Matthews or one of those other turds give their poll results with the stipulation that DU hammered it.
Where do we draw the line?
Colleges are private institutions for a reason, and should be allowed to restrict certain "privileges" the rest of us have.
And for good reason. How many of us want our kids going to a college kegger before some yahoo pulls out a gun and says: "Hey, dudes! Watch this!"
Think about how many more people would have been killed at the University of Texas if some of the students hadn't been armed and willing to take that loony out. The man that shot Whitman was deputized on his way up the steps of the tower.
Private property does not supercede the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
My son's university has gun lockers in the basements of the dorms.
what about public colleges?
"I do not think that ANY student (high school and/or college) should be eligible to get a permit to carry a gun!"
Does he realize a college student can be any age from 17 to 75? and when you are 18 you can vote, pay taxes, be in military, and be a cop in some places
I did a search on Freep and could not find the reference to this poll.
Also, the names given on the paper's message board are not FR nicks.
I think though that the "online poll" has lost it's meaning. ANY interest group can influence ANY online poll, and without considerable detective work the poll runners will not realize it, except in the case where a small paper has a readership of 500 and 2000 people flood the poll.
I also think that some poll results are merely made up.
We should start copying and pasting our links to polls so they can't see where we came from.
LOL! I was at a party like that when I went to college! House occupant had too much tequila and grabbed his semi-auto AK-47 from his closet, went outside and imitated an Iraqi wedding, firing about a dozen shots into the air.
Party cleared out real fast! I stuck around to see the aftermath. Cops showed up but his roommates said people were only lighting off firecrackers. He never got busted.
You can argue this both ways. But it must be said that the announced presence of "gun free zones" seems like an invitation to armed criminals, burglars, rapists, and what not. This is especially true of the politicians and administrators boast their political correctness by putting up signs saying that you are entering a gun free zone.
That's routine for me. I run two different browsers at the same time, so when I want to go to a poll, let's say I'm using IE for FreeR, I cut-n-paste into a Netscape or Firefox window- I then "come from" Google or Clustr.
I mean, uhhh, that's what I would do if I were ever to influence a poll.
When I was going to college in the 80's, I frequently took night classes. Many times, we were warned to be aware, and if possible, have a security guard escort you if you were a woman out to the parking lot.
Crime is, and can be very nasty on college campuses. Depending on the location of the campus, (take USC for example) especially around the parking lot, when walking out to one's car, personal safety is a big issue.
LMAO
Ummm, and what's to stop that situation anywhere else? People said the same when states started to adopt laws allowing CCW, etc... Your response is no different than Dungers saying they are all for gun ownership just not regular people having guns, or only cops having guns, or etc... List goes on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.