The facts: Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is a student organization whose main purpose is to promote a policy change allowing for concealed firearms to be carried on campus. The only current exemptions to the restriction on firearms apply to Centennial Campus private housing, the College of Natural Resources, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Our opinion: Campus Police does a great job of providing a safe environment. For the incidents of violence that do currently occur, as horrible as they may be, it’s not reasonable to say they’d all disappear if concealed carry was allowed. The cost of allowing concealed carry is far greater than its benefit.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus at N.C. State is pushing for concealed firearms to be allowed on campus. Currently, and not surprisingly, NCSU regulations do not permit students to carry concealed firearms on campus, regardless of if they are permitted to carry them elsewhere. Those pushing for a change in legislation claim fear mongering is to blame for the lack of guns on campus. However, fear mongering is not what is holding back concealed guns on campus, but the idea itself. On the surface, the idea sounds ridiculous: allowing students, college students, to bring their firearms on campus. These are the same students who are chemically, nutritionally and emotionally imbalanced due to their pursuits towards academic and social maturity, and now we want to let them bring their gun to class? The proponents of concealed carrying on campus claim it would not be the free-for-all that it appears to be. Only those who already hold a concealed carry permit would be allowed to have a concealed firearm on campus. However, minus an eight-hour training course, the regulations on who is afforded a concealed carry permit are pretty relaxed. Essentially, all you need for eligibility is to be patient, an N.C. resident and not physically or mentally ill. Citation of such relaxed regulations bring little comfort to the debate. There are a few colleges which permit concealed firearms on campus. The proponents often cite the absence of newsworthy violence at these colleges as a reason for adopting concealed carry as a policy. Thankfully, however, violent crimes like those seen atVirginia Tech are few and far between, and that is why they are newsworthy. In 2010 there were only 12 cases of aggravated assault at N.C. State reported to police, and only 29 since 2007. These cases, while horrible, are not enough to warrant action to the degree of allowing concealed carry on campus. Our students already sensitive to guns on campus. A couple of weeks ago, Riddick Hall was locked down when someone reported a gunman on campus. This turned out to be a Humans vs. Zombies player carrying a toy gun. With an environment so sensitive to guns already, what would be the effect of instituting concealed carry on campus? Concealed carry is not open carry, meaning you cannot tell who is armed and who is not. It’s not as if students would be able to walk through the Brickyard twi rling their guns. You most likely wouldn’t know who had a gun and who did not, which is still not very reassuring. Our Campus Police do a great job at providing a safe environment. For the incidents of violence that do currently occur, as horrible as they may be, it’s not reasonable to say they’d all disappear if concealed carry was allowed. The cost of allowing concealed carry is far greater than its benefit.