NYT: Allowing College Students to Shoot Back When Under Attack a ‘Bizarre Premise’

On May 15 the New York Times editorial board suggested it is a “bizarre premise” to push campus carry on the grounds that allowing law-abiding students to shoot back will make them safer.

The editorial board was particularly bothered by Arkansas and Georgia, both of which legalized campus carry earlier this year, bringing the total number of campus states to 11. (The NYT reports that 10 states have legalized campus carry, but the number is actually 11. Those states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Utah, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Oregon, Texas, Kansas, and Ohio.)

The NYT claims, “The issue…[of Campus carry] is being fought in statehouses as the gun lobby presses to arm far more citizens in far more places regardless of the risks.” Such a claim misses the essence of what is actually happening with the campus carry movement and it completely omits what the gun control lobby is doing to keep students, professors, and school staff vulnerable at all times

For starters, the essence of campus carry is that the students who would carry on campus are already armed–they have concealed carry permits–they simply want to be able to bring their guns with them to campus the way they take their guns with them to Walmart, McDonald’s, church, and the ExxonMobil gas station. Campus carry is based on the belief that a life worth defending at Walmart or at a Baptist Church is also worth defending on a university campus.

As for the gun control lobby, they are actively opposed to students and professors having such an ability to defend their lives or their dignity–the NYT does not even mention this.

For example, when Georgia was considering campus carry in 2016, it was Moms Demand Action’s Lindsey Donovan who said campus carry “is not a common sense law.” Instead, Donovan and the other moms wanted to continue the prohibition against concealed carry permit holders being armed on campus for self-defense.

And this year, when Georgia and Florida took up campus carry again, Everytown for Gun Safety–another Michael Bloomberg-funded fixture in the gun control lobby–tweeted their opposition to law-abiding students being allowed to bring guns on campus for self-defense. All the while, the gun control lobby ignores the horror stories told by women like Amanda Collins, a concealed carry permit holder who was raped on the University of Nevada campus in 2007. She was unable to have her gun with her for self-defense because the campus was “gun-free,” just as the gun control lobby likes it.

It is interesting to note that the NYT’s editorial board claims “federal research” is on the the gun control lobby’s side in the fight against campus carry. But when readers click on the “federal research” tab they are taken to a gun control website where crime figures from 1999 are summarized to suggest students are safe enough without guns for self-defense.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.