Arizona State Sen. Karen S. Johnson, a self-described “right-wing wacko,” has sponsored a bill that would allow some people to carry firearms in most public establishments, including college campuses.
The worst part? It passed committee.
Last week, the bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, 4 to 3. People over the age of 21 with a concealed-weapons permit may soon be able to go about their daily lives, going to lectures, eating in the dining halls, visiting a teaching assistants’ office hours ““ all while packing heat.
Needless to say, this is a terrible idea. Johnson proposed this bill in light of the recent school shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. In fact, she originally suggested the bill allow guns in every public school, from elementary school on up. As she put it, “Our kindergartners are sitting there like sitting ducks.”
Arizona is generally a gun-friendly state. Even people without a permit can carry a gun, as long as it is visible to everyone else. Johnson told the New York Times, “People are more independent thinkers here when it comes to security.”
One student has already spoken out in favor of the proposed law. Jason Lewis, a student at the University of Arizona, said at a recent hearing he has been mugged twice on campus in the past year. He said he now carries his gun everywhere he can, and hopes this bill, if it passes the state congress and gets the governor’s signature, will cause potential criminals to “back off.”
However, hordes of students carrying guns will probably cause many, many more problems than it solves. Though Arizona residents must “satisfactorily complete a firearms safety training program approved by the department of public safety,” according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s Web site, college students will likely not have the same level of training and proficiency as police officers and other professionals who regularly carry weapons.
Also, gun-control groups are concerned about the likeliness of someone using a gun unnecessarily, just because they have one.
The New York Times cited an incident in October 2002 when a nursing student at the University of Arizona, upset with his failing grades, went on a shooting rampage. He murdered three professors before killing himself.
Despite the high publicity they attract, campus shootings are not an imminent threat facing every college. The reason the recent ones have garnered so much attention is because of their general rarity.
In such a situation, having a room full of armed people could make things much worse. Instead of one person firing randomly, you’d have a whole room full of people doing it.
Hitting a moving target or firing a gun in a crowd is extremely difficult, even for a trained shooter, and in all the pandemonium of people trying to run and hide, stray bullets all over the room would do more harm than good.
And once police or campus security got there, they might have trouble identifying who the actual threat is versus a student trying to protect themselves and others.
Furthermore, as guns become more common, the relative power of police is diminished.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said 15 states are considering similar legislation, including Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Virginia.
This is a bad idea that will cost more lives than it will ever save, and will make every college campus a dangerous place for civilians. Guns should stay in the hands of professionals.