Trying to arm everyone on campus is a great way to cut down on school shootings of the nutcase variety and greatly increase the number of school shootings of the “Oops, I thought…” variety.
Actually, I had a brighter shade of blue in mind, but in this case I don’t really think it would have helped.
And that car HAD to be an aggravating factor! 
Here’s your sign.
My university has banned firearms on campus and we also have the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence. Two of my roommates attended Columbine (one of them was at Columbine at the time) and I have heard their stories first hand. Our Natural Hazards Center sent a close friend of mine to Virginia Tech during the week after the shootings to assemble and document their stories. I am proud of CUs stance with respect to disaster preparedness and would refuse to attend a university that allowed firearms on campus. If a graduate student in sociology (I hope you understand the irony in that) can methodically massacre students with a shotgun apparently unprovoked, it is clear to me that a pistol in a backpack is not going to provide the readiness required to counter such a threat. The best we can do is try to prevent them, and accept that we will never fully be able to while simultaneously protecting freedoms (although, as a technologist, it seems that some clever, non-invasive ways may be on the horizon). Adding more guns to the situation is not prevention, it is inflammation.
Christ, it’s just one strawman after another, isn’t it?
Nobody’s trying to arm “everyone on campus.” We simply advocate allowing licensed students to carry on campus, just as they can already carry everywhere else.
So far, expanding the right to carry has not greatly increased either accidental or intentional shootings. Why do you think college campuses would be any different, especially considering that the students who would carry on campus are already carrying off-campus?
Surely you cannot believe that a policy prohibiting guns will stop these mass shooters, then. Why do you think banning guns on campus is a good idea?
Any technological measure to scan the persons, clothes or possessions of students entering an area is invasive, and it does not respect freedoms. I will never consider such things acceptable.
I heard it.
It is stupid.
All right, let’s try it this way: the amount of people killed by guns is directly proportional to the number of people with guns. Hence, more armed people results in more gun deaths.
Are you referring to employees only or guests as well? Because as far as guests go, there is no dress code to speak of, other than no suggestive clothing, inappropriate slogans, or costumes on adults. All black is perfectly fine, otherwise they would never have goth day at the park.
Suicide is pretty melodramatic.
It is best not to mention it.
I’d guess that if students were allowed to carry handguns on campus, hardly any of them would actually do it. There would be a few people, a very small group, who knew how to properly and responsibly operate a handgun, and who’d exercise their right to carry one. Just like the non-college population. The average person doesn’t carry. A small percentage carry concealed weapons (legally with a permit.) And some carry handguns illegal, and use them for criminal purposes. But these people are going to do that regardless of the law - they’re criminals.
Bullshit. Give me one reason to believe that.
Just compare the number of gun deaths in 1300 to the number of gun deaths now! It’s a pretty telling statistic.
Seriously, there’s too much noise on the web with cherry-picked stats on both sides to find a set that seem reasonably accurate and telling. My logic is predicated on the assumption that drunken-asshole-takes-gun-shoots-wife, kid-finds-gun-blows-head-off, etc., are far, far more common than armed-hero-shoots-school-shooter stories. The fact is that however common they seem, school shootings are rare compared to ordinary fuckwads killing themselves and others. It’s just common sense to assume more guns mean more gun deaths and more gun on purposes, the way more cars mean more traffic accidents. The notion that more guns would reduce gun deaths suggests that nutjobs would either think twice before shooting up a school and taking their own life and/or that someone would always be ready to take them out, and I find it very hard to believe that that would happen so frequently it would reverse the deaths that occur simply because n% of gun owners will accidentally or on purpose waste themselves or others. YMMV.
I’m not particularly a gun control person, BTW.
God damn you are an idiot.
You said: What about the UT sniper? CC didn’t stop him.
I said: Well, that was a sniper. That’s not really what we are talking about. No one is saying CC on campus will stop all lunitics, or even most of them.
You: That’s stupid.
This is like claiming in a debate about seatbelts that seatbelts didn’t help Dale Earnhardt so why bother?
For the record, no one here thinks a few armed citizens will save a university from an artillery barrage either.
I’m sorry you think so. I would ask that you reread what I said, but this debate is governed by emotion, so it’s somewhat pointless to do so.
Alright Descartes.
Excuse me? What I posted is hardly unreasonable. What does philosophy,or math, for that matter, have to do with it?
I understand what I propose is a dramatic change from the norm. So are school shootings. If you have something substantive to object to, please do.
Thanks
Are you assuming spree killers are all going to start shooting people the same way?
Right back at you
I like the part about how we should ban guns on campus but they are not about gun control.
I wonder why so many that will have the smallest chance of danger from concealed carry are so terrified and those who should be most in fear, ( police officers in the street ) are not.
We all know the Police Chiefs who’s jobs are political go with the party line but that is not the opinion of every single one of the officers I have personally asked and I ask every one I can. ( hundreds so far ) They think it is fine or actually want to see more of it.
After living abroad for some time now, I have to admit it’s pretty damn disgusting how much FEAR is soaked into just living in the USA these days. To be honest, I do kind of blame guns. Maybe it’s just a product of living in countries where gun-crime is virtually unheard of due to the complete, utter lack of personal armaments.
My personal feelings aside, I wonder if you were to allow school children/college students to be armed, would you see a resultant “escalation” factor from the school shooters? Kind of like how the criminal element becomes more sophisticated/deadly as police efforts improve? In theory, that is.