linx310
12-05-2010, 10:26 PM
http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/education/texas-state-endorses-concealed-carry
TX State students back concealed carry
Leads state in endorsing change to law
Updated: Tuesday, 30 Nov 2010, 3:28 PM CST
Published : Tuesday, 30 Nov 2010, 10:56 AM CST
* Jackie Vega
SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) - Texas State University student leaders have endorsed carrying concealed handguns on campus.
The move makes them the first student body government to back the controversial amendment to Texas law, though university officials said Texas State administration has not taken an official stance on the issue.
After students and faculty shared their views on the issue during a forum the week before, the Associated Student Government at the university voted Monday to endorse legalizing carrying licensed concealed handguns on Texas college campuses.
“This is something you never would have seen two years ago, when most people still believed that legalizing campus carry would somehow enable drunk kids to carry guns at keg parties," said W. Scott Lewis, Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus . "The students at Texas State should be commended for educating themselves on a complex issue that has been completely misrepresented by gun control activists and certain elements of the mainstream media.”
The endorsement from the sixth-largest university - with more than 32,500 students - in the state came by a vote of 24-10, becoming the first postsecondary institution in Texas to pass a resolution endorsing what's known as “campus carry.”
This comes less than two weeks after the Texas State University newspaper, The University Star , became the first student newspaper in Texas to publicly endorse campus carry.
The passage of a campus carry bill during the 2011 Texas legislative session would amend state law so that people over 21 years old who have undergone the training, testing and extensive background checks required to obtain a state-issued concealed handgun license would also be allowed to carry concealed handguns at state colleges.
Under the amended law, concealed carry would be regulated on college campuses in the same way it is currently regulated in churches, movie theaters, shopping malls, office buildings, grocery stores, restaurants, banks and even the Texas Capitol - which basically means as long as they have the correct permit, people will be allowed to carry their concealed handguns.
Though opponents raise concerns about the maturity of college students and question the wisdom of mixing guns with the stereotypical party atmosphere often associated with college life, proponents point out that legalizing campus carry would not change who can buy a gun or who can obtain a concealed handgun license and would not change the rules at bars, off-campus parties, tailgating events or fraternity houses. These are the places where some say students, particularly students old enough to obtain a concealed handgun license, are most likely to drink.
“Opponents tend to blur the line between college campuses and college life," said Daniel Crocker , Southwest director of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. "This isn’t going to affect those places where college students are presumed to engage in high-risk activities; it will simply ensure that a grad student is just as able to protect herself when she studies late at the campus library as when she studies late at the city library.”
Licensed concealed carry is currently allowed on 71 U.S. college campuses outside of Texas, where 33 of those campuses have allowed it for an average of more than five years. The other 38 began allowing it at the beginning of the 2010 fall semester.
To date, not one of those 71 campuses has seen a single resulting incident of gun violence, including threats and suicides, according to Crocker. Neither has there been a single resulting gun accident or a single resulting gun theft, Crocker said.
TX State students back concealed carry
Leads state in endorsing change to law
Updated: Tuesday, 30 Nov 2010, 3:28 PM CST
Published : Tuesday, 30 Nov 2010, 10:56 AM CST
* Jackie Vega
SAN MARCOS, Texas (KXAN) - Texas State University student leaders have endorsed carrying concealed handguns on campus.
The move makes them the first student body government to back the controversial amendment to Texas law, though university officials said Texas State administration has not taken an official stance on the issue.
After students and faculty shared their views on the issue during a forum the week before, the Associated Student Government at the university voted Monday to endorse legalizing carrying licensed concealed handguns on Texas college campuses.
“This is something you never would have seen two years ago, when most people still believed that legalizing campus carry would somehow enable drunk kids to carry guns at keg parties," said W. Scott Lewis, Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus . "The students at Texas State should be commended for educating themselves on a complex issue that has been completely misrepresented by gun control activists and certain elements of the mainstream media.”
The endorsement from the sixth-largest university - with more than 32,500 students - in the state came by a vote of 24-10, becoming the first postsecondary institution in Texas to pass a resolution endorsing what's known as “campus carry.”
This comes less than two weeks after the Texas State University newspaper, The University Star , became the first student newspaper in Texas to publicly endorse campus carry.
The passage of a campus carry bill during the 2011 Texas legislative session would amend state law so that people over 21 years old who have undergone the training, testing and extensive background checks required to obtain a state-issued concealed handgun license would also be allowed to carry concealed handguns at state colleges.
Under the amended law, concealed carry would be regulated on college campuses in the same way it is currently regulated in churches, movie theaters, shopping malls, office buildings, grocery stores, restaurants, banks and even the Texas Capitol - which basically means as long as they have the correct permit, people will be allowed to carry their concealed handguns.
Though opponents raise concerns about the maturity of college students and question the wisdom of mixing guns with the stereotypical party atmosphere often associated with college life, proponents point out that legalizing campus carry would not change who can buy a gun or who can obtain a concealed handgun license and would not change the rules at bars, off-campus parties, tailgating events or fraternity houses. These are the places where some say students, particularly students old enough to obtain a concealed handgun license, are most likely to drink.
“Opponents tend to blur the line between college campuses and college life," said Daniel Crocker , Southwest director of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. "This isn’t going to affect those places where college students are presumed to engage in high-risk activities; it will simply ensure that a grad student is just as able to protect herself when she studies late at the campus library as when she studies late at the city library.”
Licensed concealed carry is currently allowed on 71 U.S. college campuses outside of Texas, where 33 of those campuses have allowed it for an average of more than five years. The other 38 began allowing it at the beginning of the 2010 fall semester.
To date, not one of those 71 campuses has seen a single resulting incident of gun violence, including threats and suicides, according to Crocker. Neither has there been a single resulting gun accident or a single resulting gun theft, Crocker said.