One story that the major media haven’t covered this week is a quiet protest on university campuses across the country. Students have been wearing empty holsters to symbolize that they would be unprotected if faced with someone who was shooting at them on a gun-free campus.

 

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus organized the protest from October 22-26 at about one hundred universities across the nation. The organization, which now claims 5000 members, was begun in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings by worried students who used Facebook to contact other students.

The group claims that campuses are prime targets for people intent on harming others because of laws that prohibit carrying concealed weapons. Students, in fact, lose their constitutional right to bear arms to protect themselves and others when they step on campus.

"I’m hoping that people actually realize that this is something that college students are serious about moving forward and realize that it’s not about taking the law into your own hands; it’s about taking personal responsibility for yourself," said Justin Turner, a senior in criminology and history at Florida State. Turner is chair of a chapter of the organization Students for the Second Amendment.

The Virginia Tech massacre of 33 people in April of this year was the largest mass shooting in America. We think one person at the right place at the right time could have lessened or eliminated the body count, one Miami University student told the Toledo Blade.

A similar situation occurred in 1966 when Charles Joseph Whiteman, a student at the University Texas, starting firing on passersby, killing 14 and wounding 31. Back then, police credited civilians who brought out their personal firearms to assist police with helping to neutralize Whitman's threat. They made it difficult for Whitman to take careful aim without being hit, as W. Scott Lewis noted in an editorial for the Washington Times.

Not surprisingly campus administrators and police are the most vocal about not allowing students to carry concealed weapons. "Whether it’s a handgun or mace, there’s always a chance the criminal could use the weapon against the person," argued Rick Amweg, assistant chief of university police at Ohio State University in the OSU Lantern. Amweg ignores the fact that this also happens to police officers.

The Toledo Blade claimed: "University administrators, parents and law enforcement agencies all know that alcohol, drugs and college students are a combustible combination. It makes no sense, therefore, to add guns to a mix that already often proves too much for young adults to handle."

Not only is this comment demeaning t students generally, it ignores the fact the holders of concealed gun licenses are among the most responsible people; they are required to be 21, pass a criminal check, and take a class and pass a gun test before receiving the concealed weapons license.

People with concealed weapons are five times less likely to commit violent crimes than other members of the public. Most students eligible to have concealed weapon licenses would be seniors and graduate students.

Only Utah universities allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus if they have a permit.

While the licensing of concealed weapons mocks the spirit of the Second Amendment and puts control and lists of gun owners into the hands of state licensing agencies, it has provided the opportunity for many law abiding people to carry guns to protect themselves. The ban from carrying guns on university campuses negates the Second Amendment outright and denies people the ability to protect themselves if necessary.