If you have kids in college (especially if you have daughters away at school), then, you are likely concerned about their safety while on campus. Maybe you’re afraid of another mass shooting or would-be mass shooting like the recent Michigan State University shooting or the horrible Virginia Tech shooting several years ago. Maybe you’re concerned about reports of rape culture on campuses across the country.
Whatever the case, there’s no question that violence on campus is something to be concerned about and that we want to keep students safe.
Of course, there have been all kinds of proposals about how to make campuses safer, but one state’s legislature and governor apparently knows what it really takes. Joseph Mackinnon writes,
Bad actors with malign intent may want to reconsider drawing down on students in West Virginia; granted, they may soon find themselves amongst gunslingers.
The Republican-controlled West Virginia House of Delegates passed Senate Bill 10, the “Campus Self-Defense Act,” on Tuesday, which would enable students, staff, and guests with concealed carry permits to pack heat on university and college campuses.
Gov. Jim Justice (R) told reporters Wednesday that he will sign the bill into law “in seconds” once it reaches his desk.
Mackinnon continues:
The owner of the firearm must have a concealed carry permit if 21 or older or a provisional concealed carry permit if between the ages of 18 and 20.
While concealed carry is permitted, the bill prohibits the open carry of a firearm on campus.
This is the way that you keep college campuses safe. Anyone with any experience dealing with bullies (and violent criminals are bullies) knows that the way to deal with a bully is to take away the bully’s certainty, to make them scared that they may actually be the prey in the situation and not the predator. One effective way of doing that is to take away the criminal’s certainty that they’re the only one who can pull a trigger in the situation.
It’s been shown time and time again in the past, when a criminal knows that it’s possible that he may be shot at one location, he’ll choose to go someplace else where he feels safer (like a gun-free zone), and that’s exactly why gun-free zones make people less safe and expanding the ability of people to carry concealed in more places makes people more safe.
Good for lawmakers in West Virginia for doing the right thing with this one.