Gun carry licenses safe choice

http://media.www.thelantern.com/media/storage/paper333/news/2007/05/07/Opinion/Gun-Licenses.Safe.Choice-2896369.shtml

Gun licenses safe choice

Karl Spaulding

5/7/07

When Florida liberalized its restrictive and disjointed system of concealed

carry laws in 1987, many states followed suit. In each case, naysayers

predicted everything from "blood in the streets" to "parking lot shootouts."

Just as regularly, after each state changed the law to allow more

law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns, the results were

peacefully anticlimactic. Within a year or so after a law changed, a law

enforcement or political figure would be quoted in an article admitting they

were surprised that there had been no major problems.

Now after the Virginia Tech shootings, there are those wanting concealed

carry to be allowed on college campuses. I've wanted this for ages, not as

an "answer" to mass shootings (there is no single answer), but because it

would further improve the safety of individuals who are legal to carry

elsewhere in Ohio.

Predictably, the naysayers are still at work. They claim the same tragic

consequences as they always have, aggravated by our youthful population and

the abuse of alcohol. One of the arguments that keeps popping up is that

"everyone will have a gun." They expect us to believe that the most

irresponsible students will start carrying guns while drunk, wreaking havoc

in our residence halls and classrooms. What they don't mention is that in

Ohio the minimum age for a concealed handgun license is 21. Plus, applicants

have to take a 12-hour training course. At most, only around 4 to 5 percent

of state populations obtain gun carry permits. Plus, schools could still be

allowed to ban guns from their residence halls. I could state that these

predictions are balderdash, but there is a better way to show this: real

life results. "Campus carry" already exists.

Utah is the only state that specifically allows licensed gun carriers on

college campuses. Until just recently, the administration of the University

of Utah banned legally concealed guns, but a decision from the Utah Supreme

Court forced them to comply. Other colleges in Utah, including the College

of Eastern Utah, have had legal concealed carry since at least 2003. If

there were serious problems with these schools, wouldn't we have heard of

them by now? Opponents of campus carry don't like to talk about what happens

in the real world; only what happens in their pessimistic, sociologically

illiterate minds.

The best reason for allowing CHLs on campus is that those of us who want to

go armed need to carry as much as possible to make it a habit. The safest

place for a defensive handgun is on one's person, not locked in a car

(currently allowed by Ohio law on campus) or at home. No one can predict

when they might be attacked, so one needs to carry a defensive weapon as

much as possible. Do you only wear your seatbelt when you think you will be

in a crash?

Proper weapons training (another thing most administrators don't have)

dictates that weapons should be carried in the same place as much as

possible. When faced with danger, the mind will be occupied by other things,

and one's weapon presentation should be automatic. This is true for any

weapon or tool that will be used under stress. Unfortunately, our society

ignores the real purpose of defensive weaponry, and stigmatizes handguns as

suitable only for killing people instead of admitting their real purpose:

saving innocent human life from an unexpected attack. A 1995 study, which

showed firearms are used more than 2 million times per year in self-defense,

described how prosocial uses for weapons at the very least cancelled out the

negatives. Another criminologist, the late Marvin Wolfgang, followed that

article with his own, expressing surprise as well as admiration because he

had long been against firearms ownership, but could find nothing wrong with

their methodology.

CHL holders do not become violent, "Wild West" savages when they come onto

campus. Those of us who carry simply want to be able to protect ourselves to

the best of our abilities at all times. Yes, campus is relatively safe, but

the neighborhoods surrounding OSU and the places where visitors come from

may not be.

Society is not made any safer by restricting individuals' right and means to

self-defense.