Guns seem to be such a hot-button topic these days. After the Parkland shooting and the subsequent backlash against the NRA, state legislatures are practically falling over themselves to pass legislation to keep their constituents happy. South Carolina, always the forward-thinking state that it is, did things a little differently with a new amendment to current legislation that would allow anyone with a concealed carry permit to carry a weapon on any college campus in the state.
House Bill 4956, proposed by Rep. Michael Pitts of District 14, is an amendment to current legislation that prevents civilians from carrying firearms on campus. The law previously made an exception to this ban in the case that someone licensed to carry a concealed firearm had their firearm "inside an attended or locked motor vehicle and is secured in a closed glove compartment, closed console, closed trunk, or in a closed container secured by an integral fastener and transported in the luggage compartment of the vehicle." However, the new amendment strikes that last requirement, which would apparently allow licensed concealed carriers to have their guns anywhere on campus.
Of course, the bill has not gone unchallenged. A Change.org petition was made last week by USC students who felt the new amendment was a threat to their community. As of now, it sits at slightly above 100 supporters.
As it stands, South Carolina is one of only 16 states that bans concealed carry on campus, with a number of others leaving the choice up to the individual colleges. Research done by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health shows that the use of guns in self defense is so rare that it may as well not be a factor. The report also cites demographic reasons for not allowing students to carry guns on campus, specifically the penchant for young adults to engage in risky behavior and the increased risk of suicide. Overall, I think the numbers show that allowing wider spread of concealed carry on campus would lead to more violent crime, not less, and would create an atmosphere more similar to a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western.
For those too young to remember, an active shooter situation actually did occur at USC in February of 2015. Considering that the incident was a domestic situation rather than a person looking to shoot as many people as possible, would that situation have been helped by dozens of USC students emerging from the woodwork, pistols drawn like FBI agents on this week’s crime drama? I don’t think so.
To be clear, I am not anti-gun. Some would even call me pro-gun in that I think firearm ownership is something responsible adults should enjoy. But I also believe that being pro-gun also means being for the responsible use of guns so we can retain this right and keep everyone safe. I just cannot accept the idea that allowing guns all over campus is safe and responsible.
USC is a relatively safe place. Violent crime in the United States has been steadily decreasing, and Columbia is following that trend to a T. So why do we need to allow anyone but the police to carry guns on campus? USC has its own police force and is marked every 50 feet or so with call boxes linking you directly to the police. Sure, there are shootings that grab the headlines, and freshman at USC are told about various dangers for their own benefit, but does that mean we need everyone to have a gun on campus to be safe? By all means, protect your own home and go shooting on the weekend for fun, but don’t make the rest of us bite the bullet for your Rambo fantasy. If you are so worried about mass shootings, buy a Kevlar backpack.