Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Guns on Campus - Texas Style

The USA Today published an op-ed which questions the wisdom of the upcoming Texas legislation allowing guns on campuses.

Statistics show that students are safer on campus than off, and college students are far more likely to be crime victims when they're away from campus. One reason legislators in most states have rejected guns-on-campus laws is probably because most were once college students themselves and can remember the binge drinking, drug taking and the bad judgment common at an age when science says brains haven't yet fully developed and the propensity for risky behavior is at its highest. The one state where college students are allowed to pack heat on public campuses statewide is Utah, where the influence of the Mormon church is strong and college drinking is lower than in other states.
Of course the die-hard gun defenders think owning a gun makes people more responsible. I guess in some cases that's true, but the kinds of shenanigans that college-age people get up to is much too powerful to be deterred by something like that.

It's interesting what was said about Utah.

What's your opinion?

Please leave a comment.

2 comments:

  1. These same types of binge drinking, drug taking, stressed out, risk-prone people 21 and over also exist OUTSIDE college campuses, and we don't really see any of them bothering to get their CHL and being a danger OUTSIDE campus, do we?

    That pretty much renders that whole argument completely invalid.

    ...Orygunner...

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  2. This may catch on at some junior colleges if it regrettably passes. But at respected institutions of higher learning, such as North Texas University, I just can't see it actually taking place. I would assume that any college or university would have the option of banning weapons on campus, no matter what the fools in the state legislature manage to get around to with their political football games.

    Instead of wasting their time, they should be looking at ways to keep costs and tuition down. Reign in budgets like a 1968 Ronald Reagan! 10% across the board. No more travel, restaurants, hotels, taxpayer-subsidized symposiums and conferences until we all get through this.

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