Last updated:04/03/2008
Student group calls for guns on campus

A new student group in the USA is calling for the ban on firearms on the country’s campuses to be lifted.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) argue that concealed-carry permit holders should be able to take weapons into university to defend themselves and their classmates against a deranged killer.

The group which was set up in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre claims to have 16,000 members at 500 campuses nationwide, including Pennsylvania State and West Chester Universities, with every incident drawing in more frightened students, university staff and parents.

The recent shooting at Northern Illinois University acted as a draw for more new members.

“We got more than 1,000 new members after the [NIU] shooting,” said Stephen Feltoon, a national director of SCCC and a recent Miami University graduate.

In April, SCCC supporters plan to wear empty gun-holsters to lectures during a day of protest.

Villanova University law student Jeremy Clark said the spate of campus shootings left him feeling vulnerable without his Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun.

“If I’m in a classroom where a shooting is taking place, I’d like a chance to be able to defend myself,” said the 29-year-old Army veteran who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gun laws vary greatly from state to state, with only one state, Utah, permitting concealed-carry on campus. New Jersey forbids guns at all schools while Pennsylvania’s ban is limited to elementary and secondary schools.

Critics of the ban say that restricting guns on campus doesn’t make them safer, in fact, they claim that criminals are more likely to target a campus that is a ‘gun-free zone’.

“It’s the same reason we wear seat belts - we just don’t know when something is going to happen,” said Ken Stanton, a 30-year-old graduate student at Virginia Tech, where a gunman slaughtered 33 people in April 2007.

But many support a ban. Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said, “The more guns you put on campus, the more likely they are going to be misused.”

Trained police officers only hit their targets 20% of the time in emergency situations, he added. Not only is it unlikely that a student or lecturer would be able to save the day, police responding to the scene ‘could not tell the good guys from the bad guys’.

There’s also a danger of guns getting lost, stolen or misused.
“Someone gets drunk, upset, angry with a girlfriend - and all of a sudden there’s a gun in the mix, and you’ve got more problems than you’re solving,” he said.

The SCCC maintains that gun owners in general are law-abiding and careful with their weapons. Most partying goes on off-campus where guns are already permitted.

“In all my years interacting with students who are legal gun owners, never once has a firearm been brought out inappropriately,” said Matthew Cross, 24, a concealed-carry advocate at West Chester University.

Rachel Blumenfeld, 23, of Wilmington, a law student at Villanova University, obtained a .380 semi-automatic handgun last year after being stalked by an abusive boyfriend. She said she would like to bring it on campus because he has threatened to follow her there.

Peter Caltagirone, 25, said he used to support gun control, but now feels that allowing guns on campus will deter attacks.

“In light of the changing nature of the world,” he said. “I think it’s a necessary protective measure.”