Guns on College Campuses

National Collegiate Empty Holster Protest

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is conducting a nationwide protest aimed at drawing attention to the fact that holders of concealed handgun licenses, despite being legally permitted to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else? office buildings, movie theaters, grocery stores, shopping malls, banks, etc. are forced by state laws and school policies to disarm before entering college campuses, leaving these individuals defenseless and leaving campuses open to the type of execution-style murders seen on April 16, 2007, at Virginia Tech. During the week of October 22-26, student and faculty representatives of SCCC will wear empty holsters on college campuses throughout America, symbolizing the way current laws and policies leave college students, faculty, and guests defenseless against attack. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus hopes that increased awareness of the discrepancy between the rules on college campuses and the rules outside of college campuses will motivate citizens to push state legislators and campus administrators to amend existing laws and policies so that concealed handgun license holders can legally carry their firearms on college campuses, the same way they currently do almost everywhere else.

SCCC demands to know why individuals who are deemed by state and federal authorities to be competent and trustworthy enough to carry concealed handguns elsewhere are denied this right on college campuses.In most states CHL applicants must be 21 years of age or older, pass state and federal (FBI) fingerprint and background checks (often including investigations intor ecords of mental health and sealed/expunged criminal records), attend a state mandated training course, pass both a written and a practical (shooting) test, and have their fingerprints and photographs on file with both state authorities and the FBI.

Statistically , concealed handgun license holders commit violent crimes at a rate fivetimes lower than non-license holders. CHL holders are not vigilantes hoping for the chance to shoot a "bad guy;" they are concerned citizens, just like you, hoping for the means to extricate themselves from danger, should the unimaginable occur.

For more information on the issue of concealed carry on campus and why it would NOT lead to more violence on college campuses or detract from the educational process,
please visit http://www.concealedcampus.com/.

STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY ON CAMPUS

National Collegiate Empty Holster Protest -why are we doing this?

- 48 states currently issue Concealed Carry Weapon (CCW) permits or Concealed Handgun Licenses.

- Criminals are more afraid of confronting a potential victim with a gun than they are of the police.

*U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, "The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons," Research Report (July 1985)

- 3/5 of convicted felons say they would not "mess around" with a person they suspectedmight have a gun.

*U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, "The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons," Research Report (July 1985)

- Concealed Handgun License (CHL) holders are LESS violent than the rest of the population. They are arrested for violent crimes at a rate five times lower than non-license holders (even lower than police officers in many states).

*Florida Department of State, "Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report," 1998

*Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau, reported in San Antonio Express-News, September 2000

*FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, 2004 - excludes Hawaii and Rhode Island - small populationsand geographic isolation create other determinants to violent crime.

*John Lott and David Mustard, "Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns," Journal of Legal Studies (v.26, no.1, pages 1-68, January 1997)

* William E. Sturdevant, "An Analysis of the Arrest Rate of Texas Concealed Handgun License Holders as Compared to the Arrest Rate of the Entire Texas Population,"
September 1, 2000

*"D.C. Police Paying for Hiring Binge," Washington Post, 8/28/94

*Memorandum by James T. Moore, Commissioner of Florida's Department of Law Enforcement, to the Office of the Governor, dated 3/15/95

- Despite the predictions of those who opposed the passage of state Concealed Carry laws, when such laws were first proposed 15-20 years ago, the presence of concealed handguns has not created an epidemic of everyday arguments turning into shootings.

*Colorado State and all public universities in Utah allow Concealed Handgun License holders to carry their firearms on campus.

*"I lobbied against the law in 1993 and 1995 because I thought it would lead to wholesale armed conflict. That hasn't happened. All the horror stories I thought would come to pass didn't happen. No bogeyman. I think it's worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I'm a convert." -- Glenn White, president of the Dallas Police Association, Dallas Morning News, 12/23/97

*"I ... [felt] that such legislation present[ed] a clear and present danger to law-abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets. Boy was I wrong. Our experience in
Harris County, and indeed statewide, has proven my fears absolutely groundless." -- Harris County [Texas] District Attorney John Holmes, Dallas Morning News, 12/23/97

*"Some of the public safety concerns which we imagined or anticipated a couple of years ago, toour pleasant surprise, have been unfounded or mitigated." -- Fairfax County
VA Police Major Bill Brown, Alexandria Journal, 7/9/97

*"I was wrong. But I'm glad to say I was wrong." -- Arlington County VA Police Detective Paul Larson, The Alexandria Journal, 7/9/97

*"The concerns I had - with more guns on the street, folks may be more apt to square off against one another with weapons - we haven't experienced that." -- Charlotte-Mecklenburg NC Police Chief Dennis Nowicki, The News and Observer, 11/24/97

- Concealed Carry Laws reduce mass public shootings.
*Lott, J., Landes, W.; "Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handgun Laws: Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement;"
University of Chicago - covers years 1977 to 1995

- Reducing the number of guns does NOT reduce violent crime.
*Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser, "Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence"

- The United States Supreme Court has ruled that police have NO duty to protect the lives of citizens, yet concealed handgun license holders must leave their greatest means of defenses behind when they step onto college campuses.
*"...law enforcement officers have no affirmative duty to provide such protection..." - South v. Maryland, 1856
*"...there is no Constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminalsor madmen." - Bowers v. DeVito, 1982

- Concealed handgun license holders carry for defense of life only. They do not act like the police and actively seek out a shooter.

- Nearly every "shootout" is over in less than 10 seconds.

*The real Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a gunfight involving nine armed participants, lasted only about 30 seconds.

- Most victims of mass shootings are shot at point blank range, by assailants who move slowlyand methodically from victim to victim. It requires neither superhuman reflexes nor deadeye accuracy to defend oneself against such an attack.

- Police forces are trained to expect armed "good guys" and armed "bad guys" in tactical scenarios. CHL holders are state and FBI certified "good guys."

- There are no significant differences between carrying a concealed handgun on a college campus and carrying a concealed handgun in an office building, shopping mall, or movie theater places CHL holders are currently permitted to carry their firearms.

Mike Guzman

SCCC Southwest Regional Director

http://concealedcampus.org/