SwampCollie

Let me get this right.... if one kid flips out it would be an acceptable loss because other kids would be there to use lethal force and subdue him? Thats what you are telling me? So would you be in favor of personality tests or interviews in order to obtain a carry permit on campus? How do you submit we would go about determining who was fit or unfit?

And yes I agree, I do know a FEW college aged folks who ACT more mature than older adults, but they are the exception certainly not the rule. It is hard to quantify the word adult, though our society puts it at age 18 and/or age 21. There are plenty of 30 year olds that have yet to arrive.

No matter how you slice it, guns in the hands of students on school grounds just does not fly in my opinion. I think the answer here to shootings like this is NOT firearm related at all.

Colorado Luckydog

I don't think underage kids should be allowed to have guns on campus. I also don't think anyone should be forced to carry guns on campus. But having a no gun zone and inviting the crazies saying "HERE WE ARE UNARMED, COME AND GET US", is just freaking crazy beyond belief!

There would be enough of age people that would carry, students, teachers, janitors, or just visitors, that would at least have to make them plan their attack different. Not juast wait for them to gather in a big group totally defensless.

I also think that if a lot of people carried open it would give the bad guys something else to think about!JMHO

the_sandman_454

It happens now. Like yesterday at NIU. Like at VA Tech. People do suddenly snap. When it happens in a weapons free zone, body counts are ridiculously high because nobody has the ability to defend themselves, and are at the mercy of a lunatic.

It has been proven time and time again that weapons free zones simply allow body counts to be ran up higher when someone decides to hold a massacre. It is a massacre because nobody has the ability to defend themselves.

If people are mature enough to go through the CCW permit program, they are mature enough to carry weapons on their person whereever they go. If you are going to ban CCW someplace, that place should have the responsibility to have metal detectors manned by armed guards at all points of entry. If you don't want to do that, then don't limit the ability of potential victims to defend ourselves.

Nothing against the police or anything like that, but with the police, when seconds count help is at least minutes away. I can't remember the last standoff the police were able to end in a case like this. The crazy person offs enough people and then decides to end his or her life. I cannot in good conscience agree that people should be prohibited from having the means to defend their lives.

wyotimberghost

How is this any different than the "real world"? If someone "flips out" and starts shooting you can only hope that someone else will be there to stop them. Their age and location have nothing to do with it. It could happen off campus just as easily as it could happen on campus. And I never said any loss was acceptable. It's just a part of life.

The answer is simple- just eliminate colleges' classification as gun-free zones. People who have already gone through the steps to get their CCW would then be able to carry on campus just as they carry off campus. Colleges in Utah do this, yet when was the last time you heard of one of their students "flipping out" and shooting their peers?

As I said before, denying individuals the right to defend themselves because of a stereotype is dispicable. Assumptions are dangerous things.

wyotimberghost

"At one time I was very against arming teachers or allowing qualified students to carry on campus. I’m not any more. These maniacs go to those schools KNOWING that their’s will be the only gun there - until police arrive. And that can take minutes."

-NIU Police Chief Donald Grady

"This one, like some others before him, even stopped to reload. One gun. That’s all it would have taken. But that campus, like all the others, is a “gun free zone”."

-KXMB News

BigTiny

Last year a guy in Colorado started shooting up a YWAM missionary school dormitory. One of the folks inside was armed and eliminated the threat. We don't know how many lives that saved. That got what, 5 minutes of national coverage?

Pawildman

Our local newspaper carried the story, and the article said the shooter had been off his medication. I can only assume that was PROBABLY psych drugs...Now...do we even want to open up that can of worms?? What kind of inference does that throw on the subject? Was he under mental care? A regular physician's care? Who? Someone knew he was taking this stuff, if indeed that was the case. Should that Doctor play any role in the responsibility of what happened, and to what extent? After all, someone wrote that prescription, did they not?? Should there be any liability to report to "authorities" persons who are taking mind-altering drugs?

Colorado Luckydog

I'm not sure where your going with this, but what seems to matter to me is the fact that this piece of chit started shooting innocent people, and no one there had a gun to smoke his worthless ass. No gun zones should only be behind metal dectors and armed guards. If you make us unarm then you should protect us. I'm sorry for what happened to those folks,it breaks my heart,but I'm glad the debate over gun free zones has kicked in all over the country!

SwampCollie

I think that is certainly a fair statement.

I guess it is just hard for me to say to myself, the answer to having no guns in schools is to have guns in schools... so to speak. Hard not to call myself crazy for agreeing with that.

I also concur with you Lucky that it doesn't matter what that gun mans' deal was, when you take the life of another, you have no excuse, and you have no right, you just need to be stopped.

I'm not entirely sure what the answer is. A lot of it in my opinion is the abscense of the value of human life from our accepted society. I agree and understand with the first amendment, but I think that it has in certain ways totally underminded what it was intended to do. Television, movies, video games, and a severe lack of respect, abscense of parental control, and an abscense of God in someones life can lead to some very tragic ends.

wyotimberghost

Agreed. There are a lot of lost souls in our society today. Even if you don't believe in God, you can still have a strong sense of wrong and right and have respect for others and their property.