Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Of course they are right to worry

Packing Heat Onto College Campuses - The New York Times

Seems that there are a handful of sensible Republicans on guns:  such as this one:
The gun lobby’s relentless drive to arm students across the nation’s
college campuses ran into an unexpected hitch in Georgia last week when
Gov. Nathan Deal vetoed a measure that would have let students carry
concealed weapons to class. Mr. Deal scoffed at the rationale of fellow
Republicans in the legislature that arming students would increase their
safety. “It is highly questionable that such would be the result,” he
stressed in his veto message.
But the best paragraphs of this article are at the end:
And in July of next year, all six  Kansas state universities and dozens of community colleges and tech schools must allow their students to carry concealed weapons on campus, classrooms
included.  A poll of 20,000 Kansas college employees found 82 percent said they would feel less safe on an armed campus, according to National Public Radio. Two-thirds said the presence of guns would necessarily hamper their freedom to teach effectively. Critics of the move wonder, what if students get into a gun fight in class? And what happens to open discourse in a place tense with concealed carry?

The legislative majorities pushing this issue as a public safety necessity insist armed students and professors are the best way to defend against armed intruders. But a new study of federal firearms data indicates licensed and armed private citizens wind up harming themselves or others with their guns far more often than shooting attackers. The study by the Violence Policy Center, a gun safety advocacy group, found that over a three-year period ending in 2014, less
than one percent of victims of attempted or completed crimes of violence used their firearms to try to stop crimes. The notion of quick-draw self defense remains a macho fantasy for gun buyers.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You idiot, Steve. Banning students from carrying weapons makes campus a free-fire zone for gun nuts. Useful idiots like you are actually encouraging campus massacres. The odds that the next one will be in Georgia just went through the roof.

Steve said...

You are assuming that "gun nuts" go to shoot up universities and schools because they are gun free; instead of the more obvious explanation that they are where their grievances with life are centred (girls or fellow students who have slighted them, a teacher they don't like, etc.) It's peculiar, isn't it, that Columbine having an armed guard didn't dissuade two students from trying to kill as many as possible there, and that defence force bases are the frequent scene of grudge killings.

Most Australians are sensible enough to feel more comfortable living in a society where it is very, very unlikely that any one who you see upset about something will also be caring a concealed gun. But not you, obviously.