San Antonio College professor Charles K. Smith wore body armor to class to protest a law allowing concealed carry permit holders to carry their guns on campus for self-defense.
According to Daily Mail, Smith told mySA.com, “It definitely makes me feel uneasy that there are more firearms on campus than there should be. Dressing this way was just a statement on how I felt.” He added, “‘I realize students were carrying guns on campus illegally, but now it’s legal to do so, it increases the chances of something happening,’
Smith’s suggestion that the possibility of “something happening” increases post-campus carry is demonstrably false. For example, campus carry has been the law of the land in Colorado since 2003, and where are the crimes, classroom shootouts, and mayhem the left predicted? Such events have not occurred. Utah adopted campus carry shortly after Colorado and where are the on-campus crimes, classroom violence, and bloodshed the left predicted? Again, it has not happened.
Writing in The Orange County Register, Crime Prevention Research Center’s John Lott pointed out the safety record with legal guns on campus even extends to armed teachers on K-12 campuses. He traced school carry at K-12 schools beginning in the 1990s until now and showed that in all those decades, the only incident was an accidental discharge in Utah in 2014. That is one incident in decades.
Currently, “Twenty-five states now allow teachers and staff to carry [at K-12 schools], though the rules vary. Utah, along with Alabama, New Hampshire and parts of Oregon, allows teachers and staff to carry at their own discretion. Other states require the approval of the superintendent or school board. In Ohio, at least 40 school districts allow teachers to carry.”
As for campus carry at universities and colleges, nine states prohibit public colleges and universities from banning it. Those are Colorado, Utah, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Idaho, Kansas, and Georgia. And campus carry will take effect in Arkansas on September 15, 2017, prohibiting public colleges and universities from barring concealed carry on campus in that state.
Where are the crimes? Where are the mishaps on campuses in these states? Again, no where to be seen.
Concealed carry permit holders are among the most law-abiding of law-abiding citizens, and the campus carry safety record stands as proof. As for professor Smith, it would be wiser for his colleagues in non-campus carry states to wear helmets and body armor to class, as gun-free campuses are the ones where heart-wrenching, high profile attacks have historically occurred.
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.