The Jambar

"Carrying one is breaking every law a student can break."

Even rape? How about counterfeiting? Littering? Parking in front of a fire hydrant? False imprisonment?

"But lets speculate for a moment. Suppose we all packed heat, all 14,682 of us. Why not? There's that professor who keeps flunking you, that jock you don't like, your coach who's running you too hard. You don't trust certain people because of their race or color or religion. Youngstown is a bad city and you feel the need to self-protect.

How long do you think it will be before the death toll on campus hits 50? 100? 1,000? Think of how many problems could be eliminated if we all just had our guns. Don't like it ... shoot it!"

You people really don't get it, do you? Just because you have a concealed carry license and carry a gun doesn't give you the legal right to shoot anyone and everyone. That is what criminals do. Criminals that don't have concealed carry permits because they are CRIMINALS and, by definition, don't care about breaking the law. Criminals carry guns everywhere they want, including on college campuses, assuming they don't get caught before they use it. It's highly unlikely YSU or any college is going to be able to screen every person that comes onto campus for hidden weapons. So, law abiding citizens go defenseless, while criminals come and go armed to the teeth. That sounds like a highly enlightened learning environment you are envisioning.

"But at least on campus can learn."

Who the hell edits this rag? The Geico cavemen?

"Should everyone be at risk because a few people feel their right to bear arms overrules all else?"

Nobody is saying their right to bear arms overrules all else. Many are saying their right to bear arms overrules the whinings of a bunch of pencil-necked English majors. On the subject of risk: how far do you want to take this straw man argument? Do you want to make sure all new buildings on campus don't have windows, so that enraged students can't through their professors out of them?

"But how far can our individual civil liberties extend before they infringe upon those of others?"

Exactly! You finally got the point!

Yes because It always makes me feel so safe and sound knowing that everyone around me has a gun with them and can use it anytime. And if someone does start shooting then everyone can pull theirs out and shoot each other because we won't remember who started shooting in the first place.

Now thats a safe campus I can only imagine in my dreams. What a wonderful place that would be.

Keep guns out of schools.

I am all for your right to hunt, target shoot, have them on display in your house, carry and conceal them with you if you have the right training and a permit but I still think there are SOME PLACES, such as an institution of higher education, where large volumes of guns should not be present. Just because you are trained very well and could handle a gun well doesn't mean the idiot next to you in class can. Think about it. Would you want some of your favorite "Pencil Necked" english majors wielding a weapon in your presence trying to play hero? I bet you wouldn't.

Leave the peacekeeping to the peace officers.