Below is the entirety of an essay I wrote for my application to form a chapter at Western Technical College for Students for Concealed Carry. The essay topic was "why should students be allowed to carry on campus?"
"Students should be allowed to carry a loaded firearm on college campuses for many reasons; the biggest being that gun free zones makes those in them a target. Time and time again, we hear of the mass shootings taking place in our country. What we do not hear is the fact that most, if not all, of these shootings happen in gun free zones. Criminals do not follow laws, and a sign stating “No Guns Allowed” will not deter an armed criminal from committing a heinous crime.
A study was conducted by John Lott in the 1990s in regards to the question if crime increases or decreases with concealed carry laws. In a county by county study, it was shown that those states that had adopted a shall issue concealed carry system had a decrease in violent crime. The only increase in crime was burglary of unoccupied dwellings for obvious reasons.
Nearly all concealed carry permit holders are law abiding citizens and have received extensive training in regards to carrying firearms, conflict avoidance, and many other legal topics. I currently have several permit s to carry, one of them being a nonresident Minnesota permit. Minnesota law requires coverage of applicable law, conflict avoidance, basic understanding of a handgun, proper shooting technique for a handgun, and an actual live fire test in order to obtain a permit to carry. The class has to be repeated every five years before renewal of the permit.
By prohibiting we the students from carrying on campus, administrators effectively make all of us on campus sitting ducks. There is no armed security on my campus, only security guards with no firearms, nor any sort of weapons. How are we supposed to protect ourselves from those such as the gunmen at the shootings at Virginia Tech, or Columbine, or even at Sandy Hook in Connecticut? Are we to sit quietly in a classroom in lockdown while the gunman runs wildly around campus? Or will we be allowed to carry a concealed firearm on campus and fight back against those psychopaths who wish to do us harm?
There are many more reasons why college administrators should allow us to carry on campus, and these are just a few. Those of us who are law abiding students with permits to carry should be spreading the word that we should not have to disarm ourselves before we walk into college campuses and make ourselves sitting ducks for the next psychopath who wishes to make a name for himself. Everyone who supports legal carry needs to work together to make campus carry a reality and allow students the right to defend themselves."
Written by Nathan Fater on March 6, 2013
"Students should be allowed to carry a loaded firearm on college campuses for many reasons; the biggest being that gun free zones makes those in them a target. Time and time again, we hear of the mass shootings taking place in our country. What we do not hear is the fact that most, if not all, of these shootings happen in gun free zones. Criminals do not follow laws, and a sign stating “No Guns Allowed” will not deter an armed criminal from committing a heinous crime.
A study was conducted by John Lott in the 1990s in regards to the question if crime increases or decreases with concealed carry laws. In a county by county study, it was shown that those states that had adopted a shall issue concealed carry system had a decrease in violent crime. The only increase in crime was burglary of unoccupied dwellings for obvious reasons.
Nearly all concealed carry permit holders are law abiding citizens and have received extensive training in regards to carrying firearms, conflict avoidance, and many other legal topics. I currently have several permit s to carry, one of them being a nonresident Minnesota permit. Minnesota law requires coverage of applicable law, conflict avoidance, basic understanding of a handgun, proper shooting technique for a handgun, and an actual live fire test in order to obtain a permit to carry. The class has to be repeated every five years before renewal of the permit.
By prohibiting we the students from carrying on campus, administrators effectively make all of us on campus sitting ducks. There is no armed security on my campus, only security guards with no firearms, nor any sort of weapons. How are we supposed to protect ourselves from those such as the gunmen at the shootings at Virginia Tech, or Columbine, or even at Sandy Hook in Connecticut? Are we to sit quietly in a classroom in lockdown while the gunman runs wildly around campus? Or will we be allowed to carry a concealed firearm on campus and fight back against those psychopaths who wish to do us harm?
There are many more reasons why college administrators should allow us to carry on campus, and these are just a few. Those of us who are law abiding students with permits to carry should be spreading the word that we should not have to disarm ourselves before we walk into college campuses and make ourselves sitting ducks for the next psychopath who wishes to make a name for himself. Everyone who supports legal carry needs to work together to make campus carry a reality and allow students the right to defend themselves."
Written by Nathan Fater on March 6, 2013