Im thinking this is a very good idea

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms.

More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. The Senate passed a similar bill in 2009 and is expected to do so again. Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who sometimes packs a pistol when he jogs, has said he's in favor of the idea.

Texas has become a prime battleground for the issue because of its gun culture and its size, with 38 public universities and more than 500,000 students. It would become the second state, after Utah, to pass such a broad-based law. Colorado gives colleges the option, and several have allowed handguns.

Supporters of the legislation argue that gun violence on campuses, such as the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in 2007 and in Northern Illinois in 2008, show that the best defense against a gunman is students who can shoot back.

"It's strictly a matter of self-defense," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "I don't ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks."

Until the Virginia Tech incident, the worst college shooting in U.S. history occurred at the University of Texas, when sniper Charles Whitman went to the top of the administration tower in 1966 and killed 16 people and wounded dozens. During September, a University of Texas student fired several shots from an assault rifle before killing himself.

Similar firearms measures have been proposed in about a dozen other states, but all face strong opposition, especially from college leaders. In Oklahoma, all 25 public college and university presidents declared their opposition to a concealed-carry proposal.

"There is no scenario where allowing concealed weapons on college campuses will do anything other than create a more dangerous environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors," Oklahoma Chancellor of Higher Education Glen Johnson said in January.

University of Texas President William Powers has opposed concealed handguns on campus, saying the mix of students, guns and campus parties is too volatile.

Guns-on-campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007, but gun-control activists acknowledge it will be difficult to stop the Texas bill from passing this year. "Things do look bleak," said Colin Goddard, assistant director of federal legislation for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin recently to lobby against the Texas bills.

Goddard was a student at Virginia Tech when he was shot four times in his French class. Student Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, including 10 in Goddard's classroom, before shooting himself. Goddard dismisses the idea that another student with a gun could have stopped the killer.

"People tell me that if they would have been there, they would have shot that guy. That offends me," Goddard said.

But Derek Titus, a senior at Texas A&M who has a state license to carry a concealed handgun, said someone with a gun that day could have improved the chances of survival.

"Gun-free zones are shooting galleries for the mass murderers," Titus said. "We do not feel that we must rely on the police or security forces to defend our lives."

Texas enacted its concealed handgun law in 1995, allowing people 21 years of age and older to carry weapons if they pass training courses and background checks. The state had 461,724 license

Frankie Shulkin, a first-year law student at the University of Texas, said he doesn't think he'd feel safer if other students in his classes had guns.

"If I was taking an exam and knew the person next to me had one, I don't know how comfortable I would feel," Shulkin said. "I am in favor of guns rights and your typical conservative guy, but the classroom thing bugs me."

 

Great idea!

Wish it was possible when I was in school. 450 students at a frat keg party, second day of hard drinking and the kegs are running out. I'm packin' so pity the poor fool that tries to break beer line. and one more for good measure.

 

good

 

We tried this at the start of last year here at Belmont Abbey (Private). It didn't get alot of notice and as a result died quickly. The best way to keep it moving is to keep giving it attention and follow through.

 

This is a good common sense approach to ending college shootings.

If Va. Tech allowed this, there would be 30 more people with us.

 

This is great! I'm a senior down here at USC (beaufort) and I have discussed this with many people. I think they make great points in the article

 

You try discussing this with anybody up here and it's OMG ARE YOU CRAZY?

 

They're trying to pass a bill like this in NM as well. I really hope it goes through because I actually work at New Mexico State University and, as a result, don't carry as often as I'd like. I don't have much hope for it though... even the newly elected Governor (Who's supposedly pro 2nd amendment) is against it.

Even if NM doesn't get it, hopefully Texas will. The more the merrier, and the easier it will be to pass this stuff in the future for other states... especially when schools and universities in Texas somehow don't turn into bloodbaths simply because law abiding citizens are allowed to carry their personal, licensed, and registered weapons.

 

I still carried...

As long as the gun is hidden who cares? If I ever had to use I would much rather be in jail a few years then dead.

 

Yet another reason why I want to move to Texas...

 

Common sense and arming college students in the same sentence.... hummm I'll have to think about that one. How about high schools too?

 

If there in high school at 21 where they can legally conceal carry then they are to dumb to pass the test anyway so no worries.

 

Since you must be at least 21 to apply for a CCW a large part of students will be exempt. The largest beneficiary will be the administration as most of them are well over 21.

 

You might be correct, but I did read somewhere that 38% of college students are 25 or older. If you figure in those years between 21 and 25 I'm guessing it will be very close, if not over 50% of the student body with the ability to CCW.
This creates the potential for a lot of college students with CCW at any given weekend party. I know back in my university days I did a lot of stupid stuff that could have had some serious repercussions but for the grace of God. Adding a gun to that equation might have tipped the scales toward less acceptable outcomes.

You know Wookie, it might be more favorably received if it was simply employees on campus with CCW rights.

 

The TSU student gov is trying to pass it. Here is how I see it. There is no mystical barrier keeping people from bringing anything to a school campus, especially a college campus. Since there is no way to stop the illegal possession I'm for it because anyone that is willing to go to the lengths to get the license will be better prepared and more reliable than someone who is sneaking it in their backpack. Besides, the person that is sneaking the gun probably has intentions other than assisting the community.