TexasCHLforum.com

Today, the North Texas Daily ran an article on the front page as well as two opinion pieces (one for, one against) on concealed carry on campus. The amount of misinformation is truly frustrating. It seems like all anyone has heard on campus is the Brady bunch's views; I've included a quote below each article link to show what I mean. Too bad UNT doesn't have a chapter of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus to help educate folks in Denton... If any UNT students or alumni happen to be members here, I encourage you to submit a well-informed, well-written opinion piece to the NT Daily (suggest you read/review the SCCC handbook first), they seem to want someone knowledgeable to write about the issue; as you will see, the "for" opinion piece is rather weak (IMHO). Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to be able to contribute to the paper.

Front-page article: http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=52035 (note, the NTDaily website crashes Firefox on my computer, but IE/Chrome are fine)
"Dominguez said students could be educated and instructed how to use nonlethal means of self-protection like tasers and pepper spray."

"For" opinion piece: http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=51978
"If we lived in a utopian society where all people and governments could work together, there would be no need for guns. All it takes is five minutes of watching the news to realize this is not the case in our world. "

"Against" opinion piece: http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=51976
"Nonetheless, there is a certain safety in knowing that as the policy stands the possession of a gun on campus is illegal, which may serve as a deterrent, however slight."
Make sure to check out Jeff M.'s response!

Jeff Morelock says:
February 22, 2011 at 9:10 am

As a former police officer and SWAT team leader who has trained for “Active Shooter” incidents like VT and Columbine, professors and students who have concealed weapons permits should be able to carry concealed firearms on campus.

Most active shooters are stopped by civilians and not law enforcement. People should be able to carry the tools they need to protect themselves wherever they are. This is not 1950s Mayberry USA, and people need to get their hands out of the sand.

Armed and properly trained citizens can and do make a different. To deny someone the ability to defend themselves or other people during an active shooter incident is ignorant and should be criminal.

I stated that I was a former police officer. As such I realize and shouldn’t have to say that police officers can’t be everywhere. The smaller the agency, the more this is true. Many campus police departments don’t students and professors with concealed weapons permit to carry guns, yet situations like Virginia Tech could have been either prevented or stopped after the first few shots.

Besides incidents like the Virginia Tech and Columbine shootings, names like Ted Bundy and other serial killers should come to mind when thinking about concealed carry on campus. He loved to kill female students after brutally raping them. Should female students be denied the means to prevent this from happening to them?

Nice.

Thanks, Pretty good articles and comments
I added a comment on each :)

Sent the author of the (against) article an e-mail. I attempted to counter each of her arguments against the legislation with fact and reason and provide my sources of information. I also added a section explaining that campus carry and CHL in general is about protecting the individual, not acting as a vigilante. I did my best to be very gentle and calm in my tone. I'm hoping for some discourse in the form of a response.

Thanks to all those who posted comments or contacted the authors!

I'll be sure to post links to anything else the NT Daily might publish regarding concealed carry. There was nothing relevant in today's paper, but the Daily's website does now have a poll with the question:

"Should handguns be allowed on campus?"

Currently, the "No"s have it with 39 votes (72%) while the "Yes"es have 15 votes (28%). I believe you should be able to see the poll on any of the articles linked above.

Should handguns be allowed on campus?

* No (69%, 42 Votes)
* Yes (31%, 19 Votes)

I also added a couple more comments responding to fears and falsities of a couple other comments posted by the uneducated.

I'm heading out the door and can't comment on these now, but there are two new relevant articles in today's NTDaily:

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=52126 "SGA wants feedback on concealed-carry bill"

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=52124 "CARE works to prevent campus shootings"

NorthTexas wrote:I'm heading out the door and can't comment on these now, but there are two new relevant articles in today's NTDaily:

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=52126 "SGA wants feedback on concealed-carry bill"

http://www.ntdaily.com/?p=52124 "CARE works to prevent campus shootings"

After getting a chance to read through both articles, the second article is not directly related to concealed carry (sorry for posting!). It is about UNT's "crisis prevention committee." I attended the Active Shooter Program today that was mentioned in the article and presented by this committee. There was some good advice in the program (have a plan, be aware of your surroundings, think about where you sit in a classroom and where exits are located, etc.). UNT recommends that, in case of an active shooter situation, students, faculty, and staff "Get out, hide out, or take out" in that order - get out of the area if you can safely, hide out in your room if the shooter is nearby, and if the shooter comes into your room, take him out. UNT recommends taking out an active shooter by throwing textbooks and backpacks at the shooter to distract him, after which those nearest to the shooter are to gang up on the shooter and tackle/attack him. Personally, I'd rather have a concealed firearm at my disposal so that I don't have to throw books and try to tackle a madman who wants to kill me.

I was disappointed that, in response to a question about the campus carry bills, both the Dean of Students and a UNT Police Captain emphatically stated that firearms ARE currently illegal on campus, even with a CHL. Of course, we know a licensed individual can carry on the grounds (as long as they don't enter any buildings and don't carry while at an outdoor university function on campus). I'm not sure whether the Dean and Captain are ignorant of that detail, or if they intentionally ignored it. I believe the Police Captain is a Texas CHL Instructor; if so, I would think he should know that detail.

Interestingly, the Dean of Students admitted at the program that it looks like campus carry is going to pass in some shape or form. However, in another meeting today, staff members were encouraged to contact our state representatives regarding the campus carry issue, but not from work or via work email. I'd be happy to contact my reps, but I'm sure not going to toe the university line!

RPB wrote:Should handguns be allowed on campus?

* No (69%, 42 Votes)
* Yes (31%, 19 Votes)

Just updating the poll numbers from the NT Daily website, here's where it stands now:

Should handguns be allowed on campus?
Yes (59%, 111 votes)
No (41%, 77 votes)