Sefner,
Good post!
One (minor) quibble:
It is also already illegal for 18 year olds to carry on college campuses anywhere in America.
Not so. In Vermont, people over the age of
16 can carry
without a permit or permission from the state (although as long as they are minors, their parents must authorize them to carry or possess the firearm). However, Vermont law does prohibit carry in schools, but I can't find the statutory definition of "school" -- whether it's talking about K-12, or whether it includes colleges and universities.
Utah already allows carry on college campuses, by the way. "Blood running in the streets!" "Drunk people shooting each other in the hallways!" "College co-eds killing each other over parking spaces!" ... None of that has happened there, either. But their minimum-age law for carry is 21, in line with most other states.
Oregon allows people with a carry permit to carry into public schools -- all public schools. But they fire employees who do it. Again, minimum age for a permit there is 21. (Interestingly, Oregon also allows carry in bars. No big deal there either, no blood running in the streets.)
Indiana issues permits to people age 18 or over. It does prohibit carry in "schools," defining schools to include preschools, but does not (apparently) define whether or not colleges & universities fall under that statute. Again, however, we have 18 year olds walking around legally armed, without blood running in the streets. Also, Indiana has a strong parking lot law which specifically allows people to leave firearms locked in their vehicles when they park.
Anyway, the point here is that allowing firearms on campus is only scary & frightening to people who haven't looked at the actual facts and what some states are already doing. Allowing private individuals to exercise their freedom to carry necessary tools to protect themselves and their communities against outside dangers (such as "terrorism") was the entire design intent of the 2nd Amendment. To claim to support the 2nd Amendment, but then turn around and say you're against people carrying in government-owned areas specifically thought to be "more dangerous" than the surrounding environs actually defeats the original intent of the Bill of Rights.
pax