Texas Leads Nation with Campus Firearms Carry Bill

[Slats]

AUSTIN, TX --(Ammoland.com)- Legislation allowing licensed concealed firearms on college campuses has been introduced in the Texas House of Representatives.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Driver would allow Texas residents already licensed to carry under state law to have the same right to self-defense on college campuses as they do elsewhere in Texas.

“A lot of people hear about guns and schools and become alarmed,” said David Burnett, President and spokesman of Students for Concealed Carry.

“The fact is that concealed carry is already an established body of law in Texas and most other states. There’s a process with age requirements, background checks and training before you can carry a handgun. If you’re mentally ill, or have a history of violent crime or drug and alcohol abuse, you can’t carry a gun.

“This is about people who already responsibly carry elsewhere in the state, including restaurants, shopping malls, movie theaters, churches and banks. No one feels unsafe in those places, even though the odds are someone there is armed. Yet if a citizen walks onto a college campus, their right to self-defense is taken away.”

Students for Concealed Carry got started after the Virginia Tech shooting, which the group says proved gun free zones don’t work.

“Stickers on the doors saying ‘no guns allowed’ won’t keep an armed killer out of the building,” said Burnett. “Until you have a practical mechanism for enforcing a gun-free zone, you can’t tell people they can’t protect themselves.”

Texas is one of nine states currently considering campus carry; similar bills are advancing in Arizona, Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Florida, Nebraska and Mississippi.

Critics argue that colleges are generally safe environments and adding guns would make things worse. But the group points to reports of rising crime on college campuses, noting that in addition to high-profile shootings like Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, there were more than 3,000 sexual assaults, 4,500 robberies and 5000 assaults on college campuses in 2008.

The group also notes that 26 colleges in three states already allow licensed concealed carry on campus, with no resulting problems.

“We’re not handing out pistols at the door,” said Daniel Crocker, the Southwest Regional Director with Students for Concealed Carry.

“We’re talking about former military, ROTC cadets, professors and other mature adults with permits.”

The bill has been assigned to the Homeland Security & Public Safety committee.

http://www.ammoland.com/2011/02/23/texa ... arry-bill/

[Northern Skies]

Good. An armed society is a polite society!

However, doesn't utah already have CCW on campus? I'll have to look that one up.

[bmc]

What kind of heat would Jesus pack?

[niss]

Thank God there were armed people in Arizona to stop Gabrielle Giffords from getting shot.

[North Shore]

An armed society is a polite society!

Most of the places I've heard that said have been gun ranges populated by middle to upper-middle class people - the sort of place that would be polite in any case

[bmc]

An armed society is a hillbilly society!

There. fixed it for you.

[Siddley Hawker]

What kind of heat would Jesus pack?

Probably a nail drawer. Strictly as a defensive weapon, of course.

[Nark]

I look no further than the safe haven of Mexico, where guns are out-lawed.
That's a safe gun free place right?

[Northern Skies]

Thank God there were armed people in Arizona to stop Gabrielle Giffords from getting shot.

There were. Due to the crowd and lack of a safe shot, he was wrestled down instead. Incredible show of judgement and restraint. But then, you rarely hear about the numerous successful self-defence cases occurring in the many states which embrace a culture of self-reliance. If you did, there would be no debate.

While Jared Loughner's face is still plastered all over the media, they barely mentioned the acts commited by Maksim Gelman, who recently killed 4 and injured more on a rampage in New York. The difference? He used a knife. Everyone knows how knives work and they respect them, compared to their irrational, ignorant, and sadly common phobia of firearms. But in the real world, Gelman's victims are just as dead as Loughner's, and the ability to defend themselves may have likely changed the story.

[Hedley]

I rather like Texas. As a smug Canadian, before you crap on it from a great height, you might try personally visiting it first, otherwise you are merely tiresomely indulging your (admittidly chic left-wing) prejudice and bigotry.

[bmc]

I like Texas. I've only been to Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Fun towns and lots of decent folk.

You may very well need to carry guns there. I prefer hanging out in nice places where it's not even a consideration. And you know what? They're all over the place.

[North Shore]

I look no further than the safe haven of Mexico, where guns are out-lawed.
That's a safe gun free place right?

It's also not a particularly polite place, either..

[Slats]

I rather like Texas. As a smug Canadian, before you crap on it from a great height, you might try personally visiting it first, otherwise you are merely tiresomely indulging your (admittidly chic left-wing) prejudice and bigotry.

Out of curiousity (because I hadn't noticed anyone taking a crap on Texas) who was this directed at?

[Slats]

I look no further than the safe haven of Mexico, where guns are out-lawed.
That's a safe gun free place right?

It's also not a particularly polite place, either..

I think that was the point.

[Canuck223]

And then you have states like Vermont, where no permit is required. Or New Hampshire, where the State Police have 21 calendar days to process and approve your application, or send you a registered letter outlining why you are disqualified by law from recieving the permit.

[Nark]

There are a number of States that are "right to Carry" which means, if you are legal to own a firearm (non felon) you can carry without a permit.
Also a number of States honor other States (really, County) Conceal and Carry Weapon permit's.

[Canuck223]

There are a number of States that are "right to Carry" which means, if you are legal to own a firearm (non felon) you can carry without a permit.
Also a number of States honor other States (really, County) Conceal and Carry Weapon permit's.

Not being a US Constitutional scholar, I'm not claiming expert status, but I'm more surprised that states are not forced to accept other states CCW permits.

My understanding was that the individual states were obligated to accept with full faith the documents of the other states. Put another way, why do all 50 states recognize a drivers licence, marriage certificate or divorce decree, adoption order, or university degree, but not a CCW permit?

[Nark]

I'm not sure, nor do I have the time to look into it.

However, CCW's are issued by the respective County, not the State.

My best guess as to why the States don't recognize them...

Plus, I blame the Democrats...

[Canuck223]

I'm not sure, nor do I have the time to look into it.

However, CCW's are issued by the respective County, not the State.

My best guess as to why the States don't recognize them...

Plus, I blame the Democrats...

That's not universally true. It very much depends on the state.
Some states have an enabling legislation, and the various counties have some flexibility in application. (New York State as an example)
Others have the State Police or Department of Public Safety administer the bureaucracy across the state.

Still, the same can be said of drivers licences and marriage certificates, and my origional concern still applies.

[Rockie]

I rather like Texas. As a smug Canadian, before you crap on it from a great height, you might try personally visiting it first, otherwise you are merely tiresomely indulging your (admittidly chic left-wing) prejudice and bigotry.

I have been to Texas and many other places in the US as well. Lots of houses with bars on the windows that I have yet to see in Canada where the gun laws are thankfully much stricter and at least give a nod to common sense.

I look no further than the safe haven of Mexico, where guns are out-lawed.
That's a safe gun free place right?

Guns are not outlawed in Canada. But if you think the presense of guns makes a place safe how do you explain Somalia, Afghanistan, Mexico (outlawed or not you're asking the impossible to believe it's gun free), Ivory Coast, Sudan and of course the good ole USA? The most dangerous places on the planet are heavily armed.

There were. Due to the crowd and lack of a safe shot, he was wrestled down instead. Incredible show of judgement and restraint.

Right...judgement and restraint.

[Slats]

the presense of guns makes a place safe how do you explain Somalia, Afghanistan, Mexico (outlawed or not you're asking the impossible to believe it's gun free), Ivory Coast, Sudan and of course the good ole USA? The most dangerous places on the planet are heavily armed.

By that logic, do you believe that it is the presence of guns that makes a place unsafe? I personally don't buy that. There may be, at best, some slight correlation, but certainly not causation.

Also, lumping the USA in with "the most dangerous places on the planet" is ridiculous.

[niss]

http://www.asylum.co.uk/2011/03/01/boy- ... s-himself/

Because his wife Aleisha was upstairs bathing, it was his young son who was the first on the scene. And by the time Aleisha had made it downstairs the little lad was holding the weapon.

When she then tried to take the gun from the child, another round fired, this time shooting her in the left side of her neck.

Read more: http://www.asylum.co.uk/2011/03/01/boy- ... z1FwwfuJ4p

[Canuck223]

http://www.asylum.co.uk/2011/03/01/boy- ... s-himself/

Because his wife Aleisha was upstairs bathing, it was his young son who was the first on the scene. And by the time Aleisha had made it downstairs the little lad was holding the weapon.

When she then tried to take the gun from the child, another round fired, this time shooting her in the left side of her neck.

Read more: http://www.asylum.co.uk/2011/03/01/boy- ... z1FwwfuJ4p

So besides providing an excellent failure of ACTS and PROVE, what does this article add?

[niss]

It reinforces the point that gun control (to varying degrees) is necessary because people are generally too stupid to handle them. It's the same reason we have WHMIS.

[Canuck223]

It reinforces the point that gun control (to varying degrees) is necessary because people are generally too stupid to handle them. It's the same reason we have WHMIS.

I tend to disagree with your assertion that people are generally too stupid to handle them. Accidents happen. Horrifying accidents happen to idiots who handle complex systems without due care. Take a look at the power tool aisle in you average big box store, and visualize the ER visits possible if the buyer doesn't take the time to read the manual or ask for informed instruction in there use. Most people who use a complex tool do manage to figure it out by reading or through instruction, and accidents are generally due to deliberate or careless mishandling.

I would agree that basic instruction ought to be the first step in gun ownership. Like WHIMIS, basic gun safety isn't going to prevent all accidents, but it forms a basis for a culture of awareness and safe stewardship.

In this accident, neither person would have been shot if they had all just remembered one simple rule. "Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target."