The Conservative Revolution

My friend and fellow YCT activist Laura Elizabeth Morales is quoted in a Marie Claire article about allowing students to carry concealed guns on college campuses. She rightly points out that students are disarmed on campuses. Allowing responsible, licensed students to carry their gun on campus would deter crime and give students a fighting chance the next time some lunatic opens fire.

“Right now, you can bring a gun to the mall but not to school. Having a gun isn’t unsafe; not having one is unsafe. Concealed carry is for law-abiding citizens. To get a permit in Texas, you have to submit your mental-health history and go through 10 hours of safety training. As a girl walking from class at night, I don’t feel safe with just a knife or pepper spray. I’m not sure what I’d do if something bad happened, but I don’t want to be defenseless. Once we get the law passed, I’m going to get my permit and a small Glock that will fit in my purse.”

Watch this interview on Fox News about the movement to allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their guns on college campuses. Students at Texas State University in San Marcos recently passed a resolution supporting the idea of allowing CHL holders to carry on campus. Matt Drudge linked to the story earlier today.

As a graduate student and concealed handgun license holder myself, I fully support this movement, which has grown leaps and bounds since the Virginia Tech tragedy. The arguments against allowing law-abiding citizens who already qualify for a CHL to carry their guns on campus are, quite simply, pathetic. Police can not be everywhere, at all times. As we saw at V-Tech, the criminal gunman locked the door to the building he was in and systematically shot dozens of students. The ONLY thing that could have stopped the killing once it began would have been another student with a gun that could have shot the gunman.

The police had no way to prevent this tragedy, and the students inside were rendered defenseless by insane anti-gun laws that prohibit students from protecting themselves and each other. As a CHL holder, I can already carry my gun to the grocery store, while driving late at night or while walking down the street. Why shouldn’t I be allowed the same protection while attending classes?

Hopefully the D.C. gun ban case before the Supreme Court will come out in favor of freedom, and it will lead to momentum toward allowing more places, instead of less, for citizens to protect themselves and each other from violent criminals.

Congrats to the students at Texas State University and elsewhere who are organizing for this noble cause.