Should Ohio's universities be able to authorize concealed-carry on campus? Yes

Columbus Dispatch ^ | December 6, 2016 | John R Lott Jr

[richardb72]

Ohio State University is still reeling from the attack last week. A terrorist followed the Islamic State playbook as he drove his car into a crowd of students and slashed others with a knife — 12 people were injured. Fortunately, a campus police officer was able to shoot the attacker in a record time of less than two minutes.

University President Michael Drake took this as evidence that only campus police should be armed on campus. Police are very important, but they virtually always arrive after the attack has occurred and they have an extremely difficult job stopping terrorists — having a uniform is often akin to wearing a neon sign saying "shoot me first."

This latest attack raises a fundamental question: Would you feel safer posting a sign announcing your home is a gun-free zone? Criminals don’t obey these signs. In fact, to criminals, gun-free zones look like easy targets. So why do we display these signs in public places?

Some in the Ohio legislature are considering whether to lift the statewide ban on permitted concealed handguns at universities. Opponents’ fears over this are exactly the same as their fears about the original permitted concealed-handgun law, and they are just as wrong.

Today, 12 states have laws mandating that public college campuses allow permitted concealed handguns. An additional 21 states leave it up to the university. Prior to the early 1990s, states allowing concealed handguns didn’t have legal restrictions, and there weren’t any problems on school property. . . .

[LS]

I retired from the University of Dayton last May. Sometime the previous Fall, I wrote a letter to University Public Safety about security concerns. Among the issues I cited:

*We on the ground floor of my building had windows that could open to the outside, but were given no cranks to open them. In the event of a gunman in the building, we’d have had to break out the windows with chairs-—which I instructed my students to do if they heard shots. Get out. I requested cranks. Only after I went straight to the top did I get the cranks.

*Our doors opened to the outside, meaning in the event of an attack you could not blockade an invader outside. I was told this couldn’t be changed.

*I recommended (knowing this would not be well received on a pacifistic Catholic campus) that the University at least discuss and consider concealed carry. This was, pardon the pun, shot down.

I retained that letter, thinking if there ever was an attack, some lawyers some place might make use of it. Of course, just recently there was an attack 90 miles up the road at OSU.

[glock rocks]

We legally CCW carry on all state campuses, elementary to college here in Utah. Seems to be effective. Hell, teachers carry.