Arizona is no stranger to controversial legislation. This year we have House Bill 2072, a proposed amendment to allow the concealed carry of a firearm by anyone possessing a permit on public university and community college campuses.
That means anyone who can get a permit, can sit in class next to you with a firearm. These permits aren't hard to obtain, either. For $60 and a course as short as two hours, a permit is yours. No further proficiency training is required.
H.B. 2072 is a bill aimed at fighting gunfire with gunfire, when resources should be committed to ensuring better screening and mental health care of anyone interested in owning a weapon. Most mass shootings are carried out by people who legally obtained their weapons. We should be backing legislation to streamline and expand background checks, but the Arizona legislature seems more interested in passing bills that do the opposite.
I understand the fear that motivates the legislation. However, I don’t think that the solution to gun violence in a country where the amount of guns is equal to the number of people is more guns.
I believe many people overestimate their abilities in a hypothetical response situation to a mass shooter. I’ve been shooting most of my life and for what it’s worth, I spent four years in the Marine Corps. I know my way around a weapon, but I have no idea how I would react to someone assaulting my classroom. I’d like to tell you I’d crouch down, fall back on training, and return fire. However, it’s more likely I’ll be shot before I even start to process what’s going on.
The element of surprise is a powerful weapon, and combined with an active shooter, it’s deadly. Even if you've been going to the range since you were a kid, paper targets don't shoot back. Paper targets never got the jump on you.
Remember the shooting at Umpqua Community College last year. It took only a few hours for the situation to become politicized, with many people bringing up how gun-free zones make these tragedies unavoidable. However, UCC was not strictly a gun-free zone; we know of at least one student who was carrying that day. That student, John Parker Jr., stated that he did not stop the shooting for fear of being mistaken as the shooter by police — an entirely legitimate fear.
Active shooter situations are naturally kinetic environments, with different police officers operating on different pieces of information within a larger picture. Police are looking for someone with a gun, and in a split-second judgement, they may not know you’re one of the law-abiding carriers.
I don’t feel safer with the average college student having the authority to handle a concealed weapon on campus. Even with years of experience and training, I feel the weight of responsibility every time I carry which is only when I camp. It concerns me that people with two hours of training could easily carry in class with me.
However, this issue goes beyond the simple act of carrying. Consider the logistics of H.B. 2072. Will we have gun-only dorms? Will I be allowed to take my weapon to the gym, and store it in the locker? Can I bring it into sporting events now? What happens if we flood a relatively peaceful campus with weapons, with this lofty goal of stopping a tragic event that may happen eventually?
We can only do so much to realistically make this world safe, and I don’t think concealed carry on campus is something that does that.
Related Links:
ASU's gun policy: What's allowed, what's not and what's next?
Reach the columnist at cjwood3@asu.edu or follow @chriswood_311 on Twitter.
Editor’s note: The opinions presented in this column are the author’s and do not imply any endorsement from The State Press or its editors.
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