Should States Laws To Let Students Bring Concealed Weapons On Campuses?

The (Lakeland, Fl) Ledger ^ | 8/20/14 | Bushbacker1

[Road Warrior ‘04]

Montana

[Tigercap]

needs help.

Yes 31%
No 69%

Number of votes cast: 522

[scouter]

You can’t have alcohol on college campuses.

ROTFLMAO!

[discostu]

That’s the law. The fact that you scoff at that shows just how effective laws against guns on campus can be.

[scouter]

That’s the law. The fact that you scoff at that shows just how effective laws against guns on campus can be.

I hear you, but a college is far more likely to expel a student for having a gun on campus than for getting drunk. And students are far more likely to report a gun on campus than they are to report a drunk student.

Like I said in a previous post... I would support a law that gave colleges and universities the right to set and enforce their own policies regarding guns on campus. Then it becomes one of the considerations a student can take into account when deciding on a college to attend. But I would not support a general permissive law allowing all colleges and universities to have concealed carry. Not with the prevalence of alcohol and drugs on most campuses.

BTW, I took my son shooting last night for the first time. He's a junior in college. He loved it and will likely buy a gun in the future. I'm not at all anti-gun. On the contrary, I support both open and concealed carry. But I do think that there can be legitimate exceptions to where we may carry. I certainly think that private persons and organizations should be able to ban guns on their property if they wish to do so. And even in a few government-owned places (e.g., courtrooms, legislative assemblies, the White House) I think the government has a legitimate right to restrict our ability to carry weapons. I think one of those places could be public universities. I also think that both public and private universities should be allowed to permit open or concealed carry, as per their own policies.

So to summarize:

1. I think private universities should be able to permit or prohibit open and/or concealed carry, as per their own policies.
2. I think whether or not public universities allow open and/or closed carry is a political decision that should be made at the state level. I would encourage the state to allow each public university to make their own policy.