Deep in the heart of Texas, 50,000 students at the University of Texas, as well as faculty and administrators, are irked by what state legislators have done.
The legislators think anyone walking onto the campus has the right to carry a concealed weapon.
Kansas is on the same path. Come July 2017, guns will be allowed on campus grounds here.
The lone voice in favor of the Texas legislation is student Brian Bensimon, the only member of Students for Campus Carry. “I may be out of step with the campus,” he told a reporter. “But I’m not out of step with this state.”
Perhaps. However, if we are sensible about possession of weapons in circumstances that have potential to become volatile, control of where they are carried is a step in the correct direction. That won’t stop gun violence altogether. But, it very well might keep an incident from transpiring into one similar to those tragedies of the recent past.
When bullets fly, they are inanimate objects that strike at will. Simply put, good people trying to stop bad guys — or women — would react too quickly to know where or whom that 150 grains of lead would hit. Also, when law enforcement officers race to aid, they can’t stop and sort out shooters before firing themselves.
Some sort of mechanism must be developed to control the presence of guns, especially in crowded venues, such as a college campus, a mall hallway filled with people or a public school.
We already have strict controls for commercial acquisition of firearms.
The flip side is anyone who wants can acquire a handgun or long gun with ability to spit out numerous rounds — in any number of ways and easily void of detection in a free society such as ours. Private sales require no background check. Theft is an alternative for someone who already has forfeited concern about propriety.
Guns of every description are present in staggering numbers in the nation. Three years ago the estimate was the U.S. had 317 million population and guns owned privately topped 357 million. The vast majority of those weapons were held by collectors, hunters and target shooters, not individuals determined to do wrong.
In more recent years, discussions of limiting or controlling sales of guns have led manufacture of guns and their sales to soar, brought on by fears that certain ones would be banned. In 2015 23 million background checks for sales by licensed vendors occurred. Through the end of June this year the number was better than 14 million, with 30 million projected for the year. Only about 5 percent of background applications are turned down.
The last two years’ figures alone put private gun ownership above 400 million in the U.S.
Assault rifles — about 10 million Armalite (AR) 15s and their kindred are in private hands, and the number grows daily — spectacularly are noted during multiple killings in public venues, but handguns far and away result in more homicides nationwide. They’re easy to carry under cover and may be quickly deployed and fired.
CONFISCATION of all guns held in private ownership would be a means to control their use, but the chances of that occurring are beyond handicapping.
