The shooting in Houston on Tuesday was at a college I attended day in and day out for two years. I graduated from LSC, and North Harris was my home campus. I still have friends, students and teachers, who go there. One in particular, my friend Stephanie, who is a single mother and has been a close friend since we started together in the summer four years ago.
I found the news on my FB page when I was checking in to post something amusing my teacher had done in Ethics. It was unbelievable to me, having gone to that campus for years. I can visualize the place it happened, having walked through there often. I didn't know if my friend was there, or my teachers, or even my brother, who attends the same school system. It scared the life out of me.
It horrifies me to imagine what that was like, hearing gun shots and not knowing what was going on or if someone was stalking the halls, looking only to cause as much damage and darkness as possible before being stopped.
Let me tell you what campus PD was good for: writing parking tickets and monitoring how fast vehicles were driving along the speedbump-laced roadways. None of them had guns. None of them were good for much of anything. They were little more than mall rent-a-cops. I wouldn't trust them to have the knowledge, ability, or fortitude to stop a shooting rampage.
Luckily, the shooting was an isolated incident, with a two men turning the quad into the OK Corral. Three people were hit, with one of them being the shooter, who was so inept he shot himself in the ass. The third was an employee who was listed in stable condition. It wasn't the horror that a school shooting can be, though the main victim is still listed in critical condition. But honestly, there's no way to enforce the rules against guns being brought on campus. It's a broad cluster of buildings, and it was entirely possible for the idiots to get on campus without passing beyond a single point that could be monitored by metal detectors or anything like that. This was an idiot who thought he was a badass and was going to prove a point with a gun.
I've read the arguments against allowing students with concealed carry permits to carry on campus. It would be disruptive, it would make other students uncomfortable, it would increase the risk of shootings. I call straight bullshit. The idea of concealed carry is that you carry your weapon concealed, meaning no one knows it. I could easily carry a pistol every day on a college campus and nobody would ever know. I have never pulled my gun in anger, and would never consider resorting to that level of violence unless it was to protect my life or the life of another. I feel that the vast majority of licensed gun holders share this mindset.
I'm not saying everyone should be allowed to carry. I feel that concealed carry holders should be able to put in an application with the school, with background checks, fingerprinting, and registering of any weapon that will be brought on campus. I know a lot of people who I really wouldn't want to see with a gun, but I feel that those that have proven themselves to be legally responsible and trustworthy with a weapon should be given the option to carry.
There have been multiple school shootings that have been stopped by students, teachers, or school officials who were carrying or had a gun in their vehicle. How many lives were saved in those instances? It's impossible to say. You know what is definite? The number of lives taken at Virginia Tech, North Illinois University, the University of Iowa, and the University of Arizona, just to name a few. What might have happened if someone, a teacher, a student, anyone, had been armed and had been able to stop the shooter at Virginia Tech? How many of the 32 killed would still be alive and well today?
If the schools aren't keeping us safe, why are we not allowed to protect ourselves?
TxT
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