concealed guns on campus

Music: Fischerspooner #1 (2003)

The big hullybaloo in Texas this week concerns Texas House Bill 1893, which extends the right of existing concealed weaponry license holders to continue their conceal-and-carry rights into university buildings. Technically, this doesn't change much except that, of course, folks with permits to conceal-and-carry can now tote a gun into a university building. Before further discussion, let me point out that my politics are shared by the immortal Austrian pop band, XTC:

I think the world would be a better place without guns. I also think, however, that such a belief is on the losing side. I begrudgingly admit that weapons are sometimes a necessity for self-defense.

That said, this particular AP story by Jim Verturno, which apparently ran everywhere (even appearing multiple times on my friend's Face book pages) has raised the ire of my friend and department chair, Barry Brummett, who finds the piece outright deceptive. Barry argues that the Verturno story creates a very misleading impression. The opener: "Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns on campus, adding momentum to a national campaign to open this part of society to firearms." Brummett argues that the bill affords only those who are existing conceal-and-carry permit holders get to this extension, and to get that permit, one must be 21, undergo rigorous safety training, a background check, and so forth. This means that a huge majority of students are not eligible for a permit. He has a point.

Except, upon reflection, the point is buried in the political rhetoric surrounding the bill. Barry noted that this stuff boils down to two basic political issues: those who believe weapons should be banned, and who wish for the police to control for violence; and those who believe they should be allowed weapons, so that they can control for criminal violence themselves. There are other positions, but I agreed that I claimed the former (there much evidence to suggest that those countries with less weaponry circulating have less violent crimes with weapons). Regardless of what the bill says, the rationale in support of it DOES evoke the fantasy of gun-toting students :

"It's strictly a matter of self-defense," said state Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio. "I don't ever want to see repeated on a Texas college campus what happened at Virginia Tech, where some deranged, suicidal madman goes into a building and is able to pick off totally defenseless kids like sitting ducks."

In other words, while my friend is right about what the bill actually does, those who are sponsoring and supporting it are making claims about the rights of students and professors to carry guns. The larger ideologico-political message here is akin to visions of the Wild West.

Regardless, as I said to Barry yesterday, all of this discussion is an unfortunate diversion, keeping us from addressing the real issue. Insofar as "psychotics" will get a gun if they plan to use it, one way or another, the issue is not so much gun control as it is, and should be, mental health and its treatment. That is a whole 'nuther can o' worms, to be sure, but energy might perhaps be better spent on training teachers to recognize signs of psychosis, for example. I can think of a ton of things, actually. So, what kind of funding is your state government cutting this session?