Illustration by Shabbir Degani
Up in arms
Like it or not, more than 22,000 college students across the country are lobbying for the right to carry guns on campus
By Jason Joyce, Editor
Don’t be surprised if some of your North Lake classmates show up wearing an empty holster during the week of April 21.
It’s all part of a nationwide effort to focus attention on a ban barring students (and faculty) from bringing weapons onto campus – even if they have concealed-carry permits.
Leading the charge is Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, or SCCC, a grassroots movement of more than 22,000 college students scattered across the country.
Dr. Tim Gottleber, a North Lake UNIX professor, said he recently became the SCCC’s campus leader for North Lake because of a sense of obligation to his students.
“If the fire alarm goes off, it’s my job to get my students out of the building. If the tornado alarm goes off, it’s my job to get them into a tornado shelter,” said Gottleber. “But if someone were to come in [to my class] with a gun, suddenly it’s not my job to protect my students?”
While having the ability to protect his students is at the heart of the issue, Gottleber said, the campus ban on concealed weapons also raises concerns related to Second Amendment rights.
Banning the legal carrying of concealed weapons on campus makes no sense, said Gottleber, since nothing about the permit holder changes when he or she leaves.
“These same people, who are 21, can go out to their cars, strap on a gun and legally carry it anywhere else,” said Gottleber. Representatives from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence have a decidedly different perspective on the issue.
Doug Pennington, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign, said one objection to elimination of the campus ban is that students and faculty essentially would be ‘deputized’ to carry concealed weapons to do a job for which they’re not trained.
“Studies have shown that even trained police offi cers, who have learned how to respond to a combat situation, have an accuracy rating of about 20 percent,” said Pennington. “And we expect college students to somehow be better than a trained police offi cer?”
J.C. Drake, North Lake’s chief of police, is fi rmly in favor of maintaining the ban.
“If guns are allowed in campus buildings, I can see problems rising from that,” said Drake.
Among the concerns cited by Drake is the possibility that a student carrying a concealed weapon might alarm students or faculty by thoughtlessly or accidentally displaying it.
“When we get a call about a man with a gun, offi cers aren’t going to go check to see if he has a permit,” Drake said. “I’ve got to go through the rigmarole of locking down the campus and having students shelter in place while we deal with the situation.”
Another concern, said Drake, is that introducing armed students and faculty to an active shooter situation could make it diffi cult for police to sort out innocent armed bystanders from the shooter.
As far as the SCCC is concerned, distinguishing between victims and perpetrators shouldn’t be an issue for police.
In a statement posted on their www.concealedcampus. org Web site, SCCC offi cials rail against arguments that armed students could hinder law-enforcement response to emergencies.
“Police are trained to expect both armed bad guys and armed good guys – from off-duty police offi cers to armed civilians,” an SCCC representative said.
Ultimately, said Drake, the possible benefi ts of allowing students or faculty to bring weapons into classrooms is far outweighed by the potential for disaster.
“It’s a lot of responsibility,” Drake said. “You can’t bring a bullet back.”