lovelillylane:

University to Allow College Students to Carry Guns on Campus

August 2, 2016
by Susan Dutca
Texas college students can now stroll campuses, university buildings, classrooms and dorms with textbooks, supplies and…guns in their possession. The new state law permits students with concealed carry licenses to carry their guns at all public colleges and universities in the state. The Texas law took effect on the 50th anniversary of the UT Tower massacre.

Under the controversial new law, students who are at least 21 years old and have a concealed carry license will be able to carry a gun with the exception of some facilities such as sports arenas and chemical labs. The new law will not go into effect at private and two-year community colleges until next year. What prompted the recent change? Due to an increase in mass shootings – many of which took place on college campuses – proponents believe that a more armed student body “might be able to prevent such incidents.” Additionally, supporters claim that “no [gun control] law would stop someone from simply walking onto campus with a gun.” Those who oppose it fear that it will only lead to more violence, stating that “a university is a battleground of words and ideas, and not of weapons.”

Texas isn’t the only state permitting students to conceal carry – eight others have already implemented the law, including Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Given that the new law is only applicable to a small percentage of the student body who are of age, the university “estimates that less than 1 percent fit the criteria” to carry. Initially, the University of Texas lobbied against the new law and although university presidents have some power to regulate concealed carry on their campuses, they are fairly restricted. The law states that “any rules or regulations instituted by the university may not ‘generally prohibit’ license holders to carry their concealed firearms on campus.” @exploringdesireswithmichael let me know your thoughts 🙂

Wow I had not heard of this.  My thoughts are just my personal opinions. 

I am an advocate of teachers being trained/certified before students.  The process to go through getting the concealed license and weapon should be very detailed, restrictions on how long it takes to buy a gun with background checks, required certified training with said weapon in use & situational roleplay, awareness of the laws for how an indecent would be handled if this ever was acted on, and of responsible age (this is touchy as I know some adults that I would never hand a gun to, but some teens I would feel completely safe with).  I would also suggest that they have to have a psych evaluation done.  I do not know currently what the process is now, they may do some or all of this.  

The problem is criminals or individual suffering will not follow laws/rules and if they want to attack and kill people in the schools they will find a way.  This is an increased issue in our world today with all the violence but its not going to go away so action should be taken to make our children safe.  When I was a kid and someone got depressed or mad at the world they would just close themselves off from the world or worse kill themselves.  Now it has become a social media world and they seem to want to be seen in some way, so instead of closing them off or ending their life, they lash out in public forums and kill others. None of this should ever happen and I pray for any of those out there that battle with depression or bullying.  I dealt with this as a youth as well but that is a story for another time.

We need to be more aware, have better communication and procedures to help young people deal with the challenges they face as part of this whole process so it doesn’t get to this stage.  But I see nothing wrong with allowing this if everything is handled with care.  If someone is able to be drafted, go to war, risk their life for our country in some foreign land, why would we be so concerned about them protecting on our own soil, in our own schools from real life threats?

So just my initial reaction to your post and request for my thoughts.  Please feel free to message me for any conversation about this or other topics anytime.  

Sending love and strength to all.

Michael