It seems as if every liberal in Texas is up in arms over the issue of concealed carry on campus.Liberals’ reasons seem to be endless, but the one most often echoed by the masses is how dangerous it would be for students to be allowed to carry handguns.
Apparently, once a student is in possession of a legal weapon he will become a crazed killer, out to shoot anyone who disagrees with him. A concealed carry law will mean the end of safe campuses and it is likely that colleges across Texas will turn into war zones between rival students. Greeks vs. GDIs, whites vs. blacks, athletes vs. nerds; all will be armed and killing one another.
The fact that guns would make every college campus more dangerous is a great reason to keep guns off campus. However, it is far from the truth.
According to Texas Department of Public Safety arrest data from 1996 to 1999, .128 percent of concealed handgun license (CHL) holders were arrested for violent crime, .004 percent for murder, and there was not a single arrest of a CHL holder for negligent manslaughter. According to the same data .683 percent of Texans over 21 were arrested for a violent crime, .005 percent for murder, and .001 percent for negligent manslaughter.
These figures represent only arrests and therefore do not take into account the fact that some CHL holders may be arrested for a crime, such as killing someone in self-defense, and later cleared of the charges, so the actual conviction rate could be even lower than what is shown by the data.
According to this data, the average Texan is more likely to be responsible for a murder or negligent manslaughter than a CHL holder. You are more likely to be killed in an automobile accident (1 in 6,500), struck by lightning (1 in 500,000), or even killed by a falling airplane part (1 in 9.3 million) than you are to be killed by a CHL holder (1 in 10.2 million).
This means that the average Texan is 20 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be murdered or negligently killed by a Texas CHL holder.
I don’t see anyone standing up and saying we should ban automobiles on campus or keep airplanes from flying overhead. One in 77 Texans are CHL holders, meaning that in a 300-seat movie theater you are, on average, surrounded by four weapons, but I have never heard of anyone being worried about getting shot when he goes to NorthPark Center to watch a movie.
My biggest issue with the fact that you are not currently allowed to carry a concealed weapon on a college campus is the amount of distrust the state has in college students just because they are on a college campus.
When I do receive my CHL, I will be able to carry my weapon everywhere I go with just a few exceptions, such as establishments in which alcohol accounts for 51 percent or more of the sales or businesses which post the proper sign at the entrance. The state of Texas trusts CHL holders to carry guns in malls, movie theaters, or cars, but as soon as they step onto a college campus it is as if all of their training goes out the window and they become wild and crazed killers.
Data shows that those who have a CHL are less likely to commit a crime than the average person, so why is it that someone who has proved herself in her training and received a license is no longer trusted once she grabs her books and backpack?
If someone really wanted to bring a gun to campus they could, so why stop those who only wish to do so legally? Why not take steps that could prevent a Virginia Tech type incident on Texas’ college campuses?
My father was a student at the University of Texas when Charles Whitman climbed the UT Tower and began shooting at students, killing 14 and wounding 32, and his memory of the event is of seeing students and other civilians get their deer rifles out of their trucks and return fire at Whitman, keeping him pinned down and unable to kill more people than he did.
Knowing that the student next to me may be a CHL holder is a comfort to me, as I know he or she has been through training and, should a situation arise, that he or she would be able to save lives just like the students at the University of Texas did that day.
John Michael Wilshusen is a political science major. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
