3page essay
Brawer: Say no to concealed carry on campus Michael P. Brawer, My View 12:07 a.m. EST February 28, 2015
Our state colleges and universities are run by some of the smartest people I have ever known. They are liberal, conservative, moderate, progressive, right, left and every stripe in between. It is an insult to characterize every higher educator as an unabashed liberal.
As a group of really smart people, one might conclude if allowing people to carry concealed weapons on our campuses is a good idea, after 220 plus years of public higher education in America, it would be a fait accompli.
Forbes Magazine, a conservative business publication, states in a Feb. 21, 2013 article: “Colleges and universities are far safer than most public spaces in the United States. The campus homicide rate is about 1 death per 1 million people, compared to 57 deaths per million in the general population. In the college-age population in general, moreover, homicide is the second leading cause of death, while on college campuses it
remains a rare event.”
That article also cites a statement from a former provost at Idaho State University to the Chronicle of Higher Education that, "there is no recorded incident in which a victim or spectator of a violent crime on a campus has prevented that crime by brandishing a weapon.” The Chronicle also quotes Regina G. Lawson, chief of police at Wake Forest University, who said at a 2008 conference on higher-education law, “When you’re responding to a situation like that, and someone’s in plain clothes with a gun, who’s the bad guy? Who are you going to take out to save the lives of the 10,000 other students you’re trying to protect?”
The Florida gun lobby wants you to believe the cops do this every day and can easily determine the bad guys with the guns from the good guys with guns. Forbes also stated Time magazine reported in January 2013 that in gunfights, New York City police hit their target only 18 percent of the time. The average student, professor or staff member carrying a weapon is likely to be far less accurate, substantially raising the odds of more innocent victims.
The Florida gun lobby has made no fact-based argument. Citing constitutional rights is the most common. Fear mongering by playing to women about the possibility of warding off sexual predators is just that — fear mongering. Making the assumption that thousands of college-aged women are going to get concealed carry permits and purchase a Saturday Night Special to ward off potential rapists is simply absurd. Is this the type of campus we want? The culture of fear? I find it hard to accept as an American value.
We have tens of thousands of college and university employees, and over a million students who are very frightened about the prospect of gun-toting students sitting in their classrooms or in their offices, the bookstore, the library, the gym, the dorm, etc.
The Forbes article suggests letting colleges and universities decide their own gun policies for their campuses. I am reluctant to even go that far. Leave well-enough alone. In my sector, the voices are loud and clear. Colleges and universities are for teaching, learning, free thought, research and student growth.
Say no to concealed weapons carry on our college and university campuses.
Michael P. Brawer is the CEO and executive director of the Association of Florida Colleges, with a membership of 7520 employees of Florida’s 28 public state and community colleges.
Read or Share this story: http://on.tdo.com/1AkzrE5
Brawer: Say no to concealed carry on campus http://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2015/02/28/brawer-sa...
1 of 2 4/7/15 11:50 AM
Marion Hammer: No good reason to deny campus carry Marion P. Hammer, My View 1:13 p.m. EST February 23, 2015
At the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee meeting on Feb. 16, we saw a parade of college and university professors attempting to lobby the committee without facts, without reason and without decorum.
One college professor even stood in the back of the room and screamed at the committee chairman. One cannot help being appalled that those who refuse to engage in civil discourse and who behave with such disrespect are teaching impressionable students.
In the absence of evidence to support their position, opponents of campus carry presented opinions. Their primary message was that Florida’s college and university administrators and their faculty union were all against campus carry.
Collective opposition doesn’t make them right. It is the same tactic they used in trying to keep Senator John Thrasher from becoming president of FSU. They attacked an honorable statesman and scholar because he didn’t fit their ideal of a liberal college administrator.
These are the same state universities that use their failure to stop underage drinking on campuses as an excuse to prohibit self-defense by law-abiding gun owners. The rantings of a professor claiming that since firearms aren’t allowed in bars, the constitutional right to carry guns for protection should be banned on campus because “on Friday night a college campus is the biggest bar in town” is a damning indictment of the failures of the state university system.
Alcohol and drugs are prohibited on campuses. Underage drinking by those under 21 is illegal. Illicit drug use is a violation of law for any age group anywhere. State university officials need to protect students from this illegal activity, not turn a blind eye to it.
It is a fact that college campuses in Florida are gun-free zones where murderers, rapists and other violent criminals can commit their crimes without fear of being harmed by their victims.
Studies by nationally recognized experts, including Dr. Gary Kleck — a criminologist and researcher from FSU — show that crime among people who carry guns for self-defense is almost nonexistent. States that allow firearms to be carried on campus have not seen a rise in crimes committed with firearms.
Those who say police have done an adequate job of responding to campus shootings must also acknowledge that police do the best job they can, but they are not there when the attack occurs. Police can’t stop the crime — only the victim has a chance to actually stop it.
Further, claiming that police won’t be able to tell a good guy with a gun from a bad guy with a gun is just nonsense. They do that every day, in every jurisdiction and state in our nation.
The fact is there is no legitimate reason to deny adults, 21 years or age or older, who are licensed by the state to carry firearms for protection, the right to continue to carry when they step on a college campus. These license holders have no criminal record, no record of mental illness, no record of alcohol or drug abuse and have had training in the safe use of a firearm.
Simply not liking guns, not trusting students and not respecting the constitutional rights of others is not a legitimate reason to prohibit fundamental freedoms.
Marion P. Hammer is the past president of the National Rifle Association.
Read or Share this story: http://on.tdo.com/1EIULYd
Marion Hammer: No good reason to deny campus carry http://www.tallahassee.com/story/opinion/2015/02/23/marion-...
1 of 3 4/7/15 11:50 AM