Shooting Revives Concealed Carry Controversy
November 13, 2008 • By Katie Thisdell, The Breeze
After last weekend’s off-campus shooting, students are reacting to the presence of guns in the college community. While some people believe guns are a threat, others support their protective role.
Senior Danny Dales is the campus leader for the unofficial chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. The SCCC advocates legal adults over the age of 21 with permits to carry concealed handguns on campuses for personal protection from all types of violent crime. With 70 students interested in the group, he hopes it will be a recognized organization in the spring.
“The overall reaction of our organization is this is just another example of why we feel we deserve the right to personal protection,” Dales, a biology major, said in response to the shooting.
In Hunters Ridge early Sunday morning, only the perpetrators were known to have shot a gun. However, SCCC believes the incident may have been different if more weapons had been used. Concealed weapons are allowed in off-campus areas, but the topic is touchy.
“Wouldn’t the violence have just been escalated?” said senior Loretta Vitt, a psychology major. “I don’t see how concealed weapons or more weapons could have helped this situation, but only made it far worse. More people could have been caught in the crossfire for sure.”
Dales, on the other hand, believes that concealed weapons are the key to guaranteeing safety.
“One cannot say whether or not an armed citizen could have prevented this incident,” Dales said. “But a citizen is severely disadvantaged when their right to personal protection is revoked, as it is on most public universities across the country.”
Dales believes more students might express interest in the SCCC after this incident.
“If this type of violence were to migrate onto the campus of JMU, we would like to see those students who legally acquire a permit to exercise their right for personal protection,” Dales said.
In Rockingham County, 728 people applied for concealed weapons permits between January and October, according to the Office of the Clerk of Court. They have seen the number of applications rise in recent months compared to past years.
There are no records for how many students specifically are registered, though, because they apply based on their permanent residence.
Senior Barbie Spitz, a sociology major, hopes that concealed weapons are never permitted on campus. She described JMU as a safe community where students go to classes to learn. She said guns could make students uneasy and disrupt the environment.
“If you don’t know who is carrying a gun around, then you don’t know if it’s that person who gave you a funny look walking down the Village hill,” Spitz said. “That’s really scary. I think it would put a lot of people on edge.”
Though the SCCC supports concealed weapons as a defense to an attack, many students believe that they would not be limited to such a situation.
Vitt doesn’t want to take these risks. She said she doesn’t believe in guns. She cited more deaths in homes from accidental shootings than from situations of domestic violence or self-defense.
“Limiting the use of guns in everyday environments is just common sense,” Vitt said.
Spitz said: “Guns don’t keep the safety. They kill people.”
Contact Katie Thisdell at
thisdeke@jmu.edu
or have to travel through a bad place coming to and from campus, it just isn't worth getting kicked out of school.