Collegiate Times

In response to the letter to editor called “Concealed weapons are not a threat,” I have to disagree with the author, strongly.

The idea of students carrying guns around campus is so ludicrous that I really don’t know how else to convey my shock that people think it’s a legitimate option. The author of the letter might consider himself someone who is always sane and stable enough to know when drawing a weapon is necessary and when it is a criminal offense, but simple fact is when you always have something with you, you’re going to be more inclined to use it. When I would remember to bring my book to class, I would at least put it on the table, so people saw that I had it. When my lucky pen was in my backpack, I always used it instead of the one I borrowed from that guy that chews pen tops. If someone with a concealed weapon gets into a fight, is he going to throw punches, or is the temptation to pull that gun out of its holster going to be too much? If someone has a gun with them, they will always be more inclined to use it than if they don’t have it, which means that gun related incidents on campus will increase, based simply on availability.

I’m a believer in the Second Amendment, but the Thomas Jefferson quotes, and the whole vision that our forefathers had when they incorporated the Second Amendment struggle to apply to 21st Century America. We have more gun-related deaths than any other first-world country, simply because we have the most guns. Yes, I acknowledge that guns have prevented crime in numerous cases. Incidents where responsible gun owners have shot a dangerous criminal have occurred and lives were saved as a result, but we already have licensed gun owners walking the streets … they are called police. I have no problem with “responsible gun ownership,” but a gun is neither responsible or irresponsible — the person who’s holding it is. I don’t trust someone to walk around with something that can kill me just because he paid the permit fee and has a piece of paper that says he is competent with a handgun.

Higher education is designed to promote the free-flow of ideas in an inclusive, safe environment. There will be times when that environment is desecrated, like what happened in April. That doesn’t mean we should re-evaluate our stance on guns at school, let the people who want to carry guns do so and hope their moral compass doesn’t just break one day.

I’ve seen some people get pretty traumatized over a bad grade, a bad breakup, or a general dissatisfaction with life. What’s to keep them from shooting themselves or someone else if the gun is right there? I’ve seen typically sane and normal people try to start World War III outside of Tots because they’ve been drinking Long Islands since noon. What if one of them was carrying a gun? As we are all well aware, the state doesn’t always keep the wrong people from legally purchasing a gun (or guns). Why should we trust them to deem someone “competent” enough to carry one?  

I throw my backpack on the ground when I go to class. Some days, I forgot that my laptop was in there. What if I forgot that my gun was in there? I wouldn’t want to be in some tiny classroom when someone’s gun accidentally goes off and the round ricochets around the room.

So if you feel the need to have a gun to protect your castle, then by all means, do so — it’s within your right. If you think the US will be invaded by the Iranians, Chinese, or the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and you need your AR-15 to be ready for them, then buy your gun and wait for the revolution. But I don’t trust you enough to hope you have the good sense not to endanger me, or my friends and family, so keep it in your house. If you want to be a cowboy, grow a handlebar mustache and move to a remote part of Texas; please don’t use what happened to our friends and teachers to lobby for less restrictive gun laws. We have laws on the books, and when they are enforced, they work. We don’t need more guns in the hands of more people, in a place where they historically haven’t been and don’t belong.

I don’t believe in Utopia and will never be naive enough to say that guns aren’t sometimes necessary. I feel like we have reasonable gun laws on the books (sans allowing resident-alien sociopaths to buy them) and we don’t need more or less laws. What we need to do, as a culture, is move away from the notion that violence is a viable solution to our problems. It has become such a staple of our society that it seems our inclination is to raise a hand rather than lend a hand. We will never know if someone had been carrying a concealed weapon, things in April might have ended differently. It isn’t fair to hypothesize, and logic says that more guns mean more gun-related incidents. There is no simple solution to this problem, but I’ll never feel safer because my classmates carry weapons. Schools are places of tolerance and learning — guns have never been ambassadors of either. Keep them off the Virginia Tech campus.