Underplayed Story of the Day

File under ideas that are bound to end not so well.

"Texas campuses are gun-free zones." Well, only if the bad guys agree to follow the law.
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I don't own guns. But I have zero fear of licensed carriers of guns who tend to be very law-abiding.

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I don't see this as a big deal. Texas believes in gun rights, and is planning to extend it to campuses.

Note to self, make sure no child of friend or relative goes to school in Texas. What is wrong with people? Do you even think if the guy who shot up the nursing home didn't have easy access to a gun maybe he wouldn't have done it? If someone would come into a classroom shooting, I wouldn't want a group of Daniel Boones trying to out shot him.

Here's something worthy of a lot more coverage:

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/03/30/aig-fp-strongarmed-donations-for-dodd/

"Two words: Charles Whitman. Am going to add that to the post."
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While you are at it KT think of the keggers mixed with a little harmless law abiding drunk freshman armed to the teeth.

If you have ever worked on a college campus you would probably know that the people you would not want to have armed would be engineering students, faculty members and newly created PhD's. Just saying...

And I am sure declaring UT a "gun free zone" would have made Whitman go elsewhere to do his deeds.

Hey, this is the state W is from...why are we surprised. Mr. "dead or alive"...remember? Mr. "you're either with me or again' me". Turns my stomach!!!!

Why are guns so well beloved and ingrained in the American national psyche? Most people in developed nations never own a real gun, and probably never even fired one in their lives. I guess Canadians have a really high rate of gun ownership too, but most of those are just collecting dust in cabinets or attics or whatever and never get taken out or used. My family had a .22 and a shotgun when I was growing up, handed down from my grandfather, but they were never used in my lifetime. I have no idea if they ever even worked. I've never fired a gun in my life. The only friends I have that have are Americans.

Every murderer was once a non-murderer without a felony conviction, lawfully able to buy guns. Arming more people in more places just increases the odds of someone going off somewhere without warning.

"...students and faculty will live in fear of classmates and colleagues, not knowing who might pull a gun over a drunken dorm argument or a poor grade."
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This is a terrible idea. Some of the college students I know don't understand how to use a shower curtain. Adding guns to the mix is a recipe for disaster.

This is a horrible business decision. How many students/faculty/staff will Texas schools lose over this? How many will they gain? Do the math - bye bye tuition and research grants.
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That being said, they have a right to do it, it's just really really stupid.

KT, I hear you. And my gun-toting days were limited to military service (at lot of fun to shoot things, by the way). And I understand the view that it could make things worse. But aren't there places in the US where people can pack heat on campus? I haven't heard of many problems. I'm not sure that the place would turn into the OK Corral.

"And I am sure declaring UT a "gun free zone" would have made Whitman go elsewhere to do his deeds."
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Wow. That's deep. Never even thought of that approach to the debate.

In response to KT's two words, I offer one: Texas. This "don't bother me with the facts" thing is just what Texans do. Like this: Creationists on Texas School Board Prevail: Watered-Down Science Coming to Your Kids' Textbooks
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Yee hah!

Of course, gunny, the point isn't that deep because it's so obvious. Charles Whitman didn't listen to a murder statute--ya think he was gonna listen to a "gun free zone" proclamation?

As a gun collector and holder of a concealed weapons licence here in florida I can tell you that this is a HORRIBLE idea. Here is the reason why, as tragic as the VT rampage is these kinds of incidents happen at a very low frequency. However fights and domestic violence happen almost daily on college campuses. You want to know what I had to do to get my concealed weapons license here? I attended a 3 hr class at a gun show and then was given a test that was basically just a recap of what we had just been taught, go to a gun range and shoot one time at a target and pass a background check. There was nothing about that class or the test or any other part of me getting this license that taught me how to be an officer of the law. With the high levels of stress and the great amounts of drinking that goes on in college campuses this is just asking for trouble. What happens when a student thinks another student has a gun and then shoots an unarmed man? Police officers make this mistake frequently, are we really supposed to believe teenagers won't? What happens when a guy is rejected by his girlfriend and then he decides to "pay her back"? Or lets go to the worst case scenario. What happens if the police stop a guy and find a gun on him but he has a concealed weapons license so they let him go and later he shoots somebody? I don't know about Texas but there is another thing about concealed weapons licenses here in florda that a lot of people don't know. That is when you have a license you don't have to wait for the normal 3 day waiting period many times called a "cooling off" period. The whole reason for having the waiting period is so that if you are about to buy a gun out of anger and do something stupid then after you have to wait 3 days hopefully you will have thought better of it. But I can walk into any gun store today and buy a gun and ammo and walk right out with it after they call in for a quick background check. A background check that never turns up recently ordered restraining orders.
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Whether people understand this or not most times more guns in a situation means a higher likely hood innocent bystanders will get hit. And it should say somethinig that the guy who was involved in the VT incident is the one who is most against this law

sgw: Whether people understand this or not most times more guns in a situation means a higher likely hood innocent bystanders will get hit..
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Like my sister, who was shot by a shopowner on 5th Avenue who was firing at a fleeing robber. With a 357 magnum. At lunchtime. In NYC.
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Hit my sister in the hand. Ruined her career in commercial art, and she eventually became a lawyer.
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A public defender, by choice.

"Of course, gunny, the point isn't that deep because it's so obvious. Charles Whitman didn't listen to a murder statute--ya think he was gonna listen to a "gun free zone" proclamation?"
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Spob-ask yourself to name one law would-be criminals follow? Then maybe you will be able to grasp how silly this argument really is and how unhelpful to the debate it is.

I have a carry permit. I had to go to a public town meeting in front of the mayor and the whole town council to get the right. I was proud I passed muster. This was in a very blue state.
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But no, the NRA says any goof can walk into a gun show and grab anything he wants. God loves guns. The trust put in me means nothing. I'm a patsy for doing it "the hard way".
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spob, you have an orgasm about the thought of dozens of coeds opening up on a spree killer. Okay, five, six dead at most, not thirty. But if you add up enough drunken arguments, overreactions, nut cases with new opportunities, and cases of mistaken intent or mistaken identity you get a whole pile of little killing sprees and maybe a higher body count.
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Look at the number of violent crimes and the number of violent criminals sitting in jails in the most gun friendly states. It is huge numbers. Look at the namby-pamby "anti-2nd amendment" industrial blue states of the northeast. Nice and quiet by comparison.
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Again, I have a few guns in a blue state. Didn't stop me and I met some very nice local police that helped process the paperwork.
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Say KT, off subject... why is headline news on MSNBC off the air at 5:30 am before Morning Joe? It's a rerun of Maddow now. Three 24 hour news networks and I can't find out if the world blew up before I go to work... not that I'll look at Fox.

Well, i am not the one who brought up Charles Whitman . . . .

The issue, as is obvious, is whether this policy would lead to more safety or less safety. The issue is not whether it would deter some lunatic bent on shooting up a campus. It wouldn't. I guess it would make it marginally more likely that someone bent on harm would have a gun that he otherwise would not have, but it also would make people more able to defend themselves. I believe there are campuses which allow people to pack heat--what has happened there?
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People seem to think guns are icky here. I don't know. I'm not a gun person. I don't really have a desire to own one. But I will say this, I've lived in areas where the possession of guns in homes was a given, and home invasions really weren't an issue there.

"spob, you have an orgasm about the thought of dozens of coeds opening up on a spree killer. Okay, five, six dead at most, not thirty. But if you add up enough drunken arguments, overreactions, nut cases with new opportunities, and cases of mistaken intent or mistaken identity you get a whole pile of little killing sprees and maybe a higher body count."

Does anything I have posted on this thread justify that quote? Anything?