I realize that some folks prefer to see the Second Amendment as antiquated and irrelevant, but I disagree strongly. And every time I see stories about a school shooting, i wonder if things might have been different if trained faculty members had been permitted to exercise their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. And in situations like what we saw last year at Virginia Tech, I think of how quickly the murdering scumbag could have been dispatched if even one of his victims had not been disarmed by government edict.

That's why I find legislation like this to be a good sign.

Two Mesa lawmakers are drawing up legislation to give teachers — and some students — a chance to carry firearms on campus.
The proposals by Sen. Karen Johnson and Rep. Russell Pearce would allow anyone who has obtained a state permit to carry a concealed firearm to bring it onto public-school campuses, something now a crime under state law. It also would overrule similar policies at community colleges and state universities.

Yeah -- teachers and college students would be treated like adults. And lest you think this statute would let just anyone come onto campus packing heat, the law is very specific about who can do so.

In limiting the measures to those with concealed-weapons permits, they would require that those given the right to bring guns onto campuses undergo background checks, be fingerprinted, go through state-mandated training in laws governing when they are allowed to use deadly force and prove they can handle their firearms.

In other words, trained individuals from a subset of the population repeatedly demonstrated to be unlikely to misuse that weapon would no longer be arbitrarily banned from exercising the concealed-carry privilege.

This proposal resonates with me because I teach. School shootings make me wonder what I could do to protect my students in the event there were a gunman on campus -- and the answer right now is nothing except cower with them in a corner with the lights out and the door locked. There ought to be something more, and I hope that such a law is considered and passed here in Texas.

Posted by: Greg at 04:58 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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