Governor Kasich recently signed a bill that awards universities in Ohio the option to abolish ‘gun-free zones’ on their respective campuses. Institutions of higher learning across the state have a unique opportunity to expand both safety and freedom – they should seize it.
Unfortunately, several major schools have already doubled down on their bans of campus concealed carry. I write with some (naïve) hope that colleges yet to go on record against the provision will increase student safety and implement concealed carry.
But if this happens, of course there will be problems, according to those who support the bans. Gun-toting students will demand abolition of final exams; they’ll flash pistols at one another should their peers suggest Trump is a blithering idiot, right?
Campus concealed carry has been lawfully practiced in Colorado for over 13 years. There has never been a problem caused by a licensed carrier.
Some general reassurance: random people will not be able to legally conceal a weapon on campus. You have to be 21 years of age, take a safety training class taught by a certified instructor and pass an extensive background check. Immediately off campus, it is perfectly legal to concealed carry provided you have the proper permit. Bars, restaurants and other private destinations may ban firearms if they so choose. On the subject of bars, drinking alcohol while carrying a firearm is rightfully illegal.
A large portion of the dialogue coming from the Left surrounds “keep guns out of classrooms.” With concealed carry, no one will know when a gun owner is legally concealing his/her firearm in a classroom, at a dining hall, on the quad, rec center or anywhere else – that’s the entire point of concealed carry. Even further, though, it is already legal to carry on any campus in the state of Ohio, as long as it is not concealed (though universities do have their own rules on this.)
There are 47 sex offenders within a two-mile radius of San Diego State University. Sixty offenders live within one mile of UCLA. How about within a two-mile radius around Jacksonville University in Florida? 93 sex offenders. Federal law requires colleges to report that someone living on campus is a sex offender, but they need only make this information public upon request. Furthermore, there are no requirements to reporting sex offenders living nearby. Guns in the purses and bags of law-abiding students would create much pause for said offenders.
Donkey Coffee, located less than a half-mile from Ohio University’s campus, should absolutely remain free to ban firearms. Any privately owned and operated business should enjoy as much autonomy as possible. It is your freely-made decision to enter that storefront and support their business – and their ideology – with monetary compensation for goods and services.
The irony of the pro-concealed argument is that we hope almost nothing changes, because that means no weapons were drawn against perpetrators and campus safety is well intact. There remain plenty of angles and discussions to be had, and I willfully omitted talk of the recent terrorist attack at Ohio State to avoid potential sensationalism, but I hope the facts presented help students and faculty alike fight for their Second Amendment rights.
