Some say that the best way to fight fire is with fire. And, by extension, the best way to fight firearms is with more firearms, according to 15 U.S. state legislatures.
Within the past month, lawmakers across the country have proposed preposterous legislation in response to shootings at Northern Illinois University in early February and at Virginia Tech last April.
Terrified of future massacres and determined to rationalize previous ones, these states want college-goers with valid concealed weapons permits to take safety into their own hands.
States with an on-campus, concealed-weapons policy in the works have different strategies. Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio and Washington have the widest-ranging proposals: They would allow guns on all college and university campuses. Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, South Carolina and South Dakota would allow guns at public universities. While Tennessee and Virginia would allow professors to carry firearms, Oklahoma would allow students to pack heat, and Alabama would allow R.O.T.C. students to carry concealed weapons to class, too.
Though Missouri is not one of these foolhardy 15, the fact that some of its neighbors are prepared to invite concealed weapons into schools, for whatever purpose, is asinine. Legislators in these states are asking for trouble, and will find that these proposed solutions come with dangerous consequences of their own.
In 2005, the earliest year for which data is available from the Centers for Disease Control, firearms accounted for 30,694 deaths in the United States, or roughly 84 deaths per day. These figures include homicide, suicide, accidents and legal police action.
Though an increased number of guns does not necessarily correlate with increased gun-related deaths or injuries, it does increase the risk for such casualties.
A 1999 report by The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence found that 41 percent of states that loosened their concealed-weapons policies actually experienced an increase in violent crime.
Combine those statistics with the following scenarios: A perpetrator opens fire in a classroom, and five more students volley back, catching unarmed classmates in the crossfire. A drunken student comes back from a party one evening, finds her roommate’s gun and accidentally shoots herself, or someone else. A depressed student, in a lapse of judgment, uses his perfectly legal, concealed weapon to commit suicide.
Each of these gruesome possibilities can be prevented if guns are not allowed on college campuses.
Our Department of Public Safety is the third largest police force in Missouri. Though they cannot prevent all crimes, DPS officers do patrol campus and carry weapons, and they have been trained in the use of those weapons. SLU has even implemented a system to call or text students’ cell phones in the event of an emergency. Students can take steps to prevent crime, too, whether in the form of commonplace muggings or erratic school-shootings: They can be aware of their surroundings, carry whistles, keep cell phones out and memorize the school emergency policies.
But firearms, especially in untrained hands, should never be upheld as a solution to armed violence.
The shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University were tragic, and it is understandable that state legislators would want to prevent similar disasters in the future. But, in this case, guns are not the answer. Explicitly allowing weapons on campus and in the classroom will only invite their use. Concealed weapons foster a culture of fear, and on-campus firearms can never pacify that.
