Posted on 04/23/2008 4:09:18 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Some want right to carry gun at school
The prospect of students carrying guns in backpacks wouldn't make Alan Gutierrez feel safer.
The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi police chief says that on the contrary, it could place his own force of 16 commissioned police officers in some precarious situations.
"More weapons isn't necessarily a good thing," Gutierrez said. "It would be hard for law enforcement to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys."
Deadly weapons are prohibited at any educational institution in Texas -- carrying them on campuses is a third-degree felony. But a group of A&M-Corpus Christi students is promoting the view that, in light of deadly shootings at college campuses in Illinois and Virginia, civilians should have the right to defend themselves on campuses.
The A&M-Corpus Christi chapter of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is demonstrating this week by wearing empty handgun holsters as they go about their normal activities on campus. Cameron Corley, a 21-year-old accounting student from Corpus Christi and a representative for the organization, said that were someone to pull out a deadly weapon with the intention of harming other students, licensed concealed weapon carriers already at the scene could prevent major tragedies.
"Say a gunman were to come on campus -- a shooting would realistically only last 15 to 20 seconds," he said. "It would take a police officer (more) time to get there.
"I believe guns, in the right hands, are not a problem."
The group has grown to 37 members as of Tuesday, but Corley estimates at least 70 students campuswide, who haven't officially joined the group, support its philosophy. He said the national group has grown to 28,000 members.
Texas residents must be 21 to carry a concealed handgun and must have a relatively clean criminal record. The average age of A&M-Corpus Christi students is 26.
The group will continue wearing the holsters through the week. Gutierrez said while he appreciates others wanting to help, they could be of assistance instead by informing authorities if they know of anyone planning violence or exhibiting warning signs of violence.
"The best thing would be to try and deter it from happening at all," he said.
Since January, four cases of unlawful carrying of a weapon have occurred at the campus, according to university police activity logs.
"I don't think it's anybody's job to try and be a hero," said junior communications student Deeadra Piper, a former Army enlistee. "There's a lot of young people on this campus, and a lot of people can't control their anger."
Junior Gilbert Morales and graduate student Chris Barrett -- both history students -- discussed the issue Tuesday while manning a student voting booth.
"It's a tricky issue," Morales said. "Most people will say if someone is pointing a gun at you, you want to be able to point a gun right back at them."
"But then it creates mass confusion," Barrett countered. "When everyone pulls out a gun, who's the assailant?"
Contact Israel Saenz at 886-3767 or saenzi@caller.com
Ping!
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Right, it’s real hard to tell the difference between a police officer, and a fellow student who is armed. Uh-huh, try again.
Woof !
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
My baby girl will be attending this college next year.
Looks like she's going to fit right in. :)
Also, there is a poll on the article's web page, FREEP THAT POLL!
“When everyone pulls out a gun, who’s the assailant?”
These people are terminally stupid.
The Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi police chief says that on the contrary, it could place his own force of 16 commissioned police officers in some precarious situations.
“More weapons isn’t necessarily a good thing,” Gutierrez said. “It would be hard for law enforcement to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys.”
Why? Are his officers not properly trained?
Here is a clue Chief. The bad guys are the ones that are in some manner violating a law. The good guys are the ones that are not.
LOL, when has law enforcement EVER been of any use whatsoever in a school shooting, other than to put styrofoam coffee cups over the spent brass afterwards? I got news for you, Mr. Gutierrez: by the time the cops get there, you will be at room temperature, unless some kid who's less of a chickenshit than yourself saves your ass by shooting the perp.
Do you think college students should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus?
Yes 35% 151 votes
No 64% 272 votes
423 total votes
Vote in this poll »
BUT, what if one of the armed students has a perp on the floor and is standing over him with a gun? Then the police enter the scene and see this person with a gun aimed at somebody else on the floor.
Result...
The good armed student gets shot or, if they are lucky, is ordered to drop the gun -- into the perp's reach on the floor.
Really, folks, how are the police to be able to tell the difference between two armed students shooting at each other? Is the good student going to drop their weapon and let the perp shoot them or take them hostage? Tough scenarios!
It isn’t about your officers being safe. It’s about the students being safe.
Allegra: Looks like she's going to fit right in. :)
We now know the first student organization she will join.
This is some kind of a red herring. Some colleges prohibit campus “police” to
carry arms.
Given that sort of climate, how is it that the students will get the green light, officially speaking? So the reality is that people are asking - parents, teachers, friends and relatives - how do we keep students safe?
That’s the first duty, not the last, and campus wide e-mail alerts don’t qualify.
The one who is dead.
Except for Cho, all the others I can think of were done with handguns AND long guns. CCW will not have the long guns.
I know. I'm trying to point out a good answer to this stupid question, but it won't make a bit of difference to the argument.
I don’t think it’s realistic to expect that an armed student would ever “hold” a campus shooter at gunpoint. These shooters aren’t like bank robbers who have rational (yet criminal) goals and want to live; they’re coming in to kill as many students as possible and generally plan to off themselves anyway. The first warning of their presence will be when they start shooting and they won’t stop until they run out of ammo, choose to off themselves, or are physically stopped.
If there were some kind of hypothetical standoff or a student was holding a potential criminal at gunpoint, when the police got there they’d presumably demand that all parties drop their weapons to be taken into custody. The police would have no cause to shoot if no one was actively firing a weapon or pointing one at an officer. So in the scene you set up, well-trained police wouldn’t be shooting either person.
But as I said, I think the far more likely situation would be where the shooter comes in shooting and will not stop unless incapacitated. In that case, if there were an armed student who could return fire, the entire thing would be over in 10-15 seconds, and the student could holster his weapon long before police arrived.
I find it interesting that the worst case scenario the anti-gun nuts can come up with is that a carry permit holder who shoots an armed attacker may himself be shot by police. Even disregarding my above stated reasons why I think that’s unlikely, is it really the best they can come up with to say that no one should be able to defend himself from being shot because in a certain very specific scenario that person just might get shot by a different person? What nut is it who thinks it’s somehow better for the hypothetical student to be gunned down by an attacker than to be accidentally shot by police?
If VT is anything to judge by, a CCW holder would have his weapon cleaned, holstered and be eating the pizza he ordered after the shooting by the time the police showed up and went in.
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