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I still haven't formed a general opinion on firearm control, but here's my take on what allowing students to carry personal firearms would and wouldn't do in the university/college environment.
The biggest argument for the right to carry concealed firearms seems to revolve around self defense. CW and others I've spoken to/read about have suggested that allowing concealed firearms would somehow prevent/reduce the effects of shootings like the one that took place at Virginia Tech. I simply can't agree with this. The idea that students sitting in class could effectively react with deadly force to a gunman on campus is ABSURD. The increased confusion, panic and number of bullets flying through the air would completely outweigh the benefits of any possible heroic action against an attacker. It would also make a measured, effective police reaction much more difficult, as you would have many armed people running around instead of one or two.
The other major concern I have has to do with college/university life in general, especially for those living on campus. Now, I go to an EXTREMELY liberal school (the police only come to campus on the rarest occasion - we have student-run security) and on campus, alcohol flows in mighty rivers. You're actually allowed to carry it around the quad, providing it is sealed and in a bag. Apparently some American schools have a dry campus policy (an idea that I can only barely begin to understand), so the following doesn't apply to all campuses...
People get thoroughly smashed. And sometimes they smoke stuff, stuff that makes them see stuff. These things combine to form a massive cocktail of passion and debauchery. The thought of this being combined with guns is pretty fucking scary. Then you say "Well, Challah, if you were packin' then you'd have nothing to worry about!" Nope, wrong. I've been in potentially dangerous situations where a gun would have only made things worse. "Ok, but the people have to be of a certain age and pass certain tests and stuff like that, so it's cool!" Nope, wrong again. Looking at the number of idiots who are allowed to drive cars, I have very little faith in government tests of this sort. Even if only 5% of a campus population had guns, that's still too much.
Sorry this post is so long, but the subject is an important one. I'll finish by saying that I do not want guns to be a regular thing on my campus. The thought that anyone could have a concealed firearm would only increase the fear, paranoia and potential for explosive situations on university campuses.
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