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Despite debated Ariz. bill, BU students say guns should remain prohibited on campus

When Arizona legislators proposed a law on April 7 that would allow anyone older than 18 to carry a visible firearm on college campuses, the bill sparked a debate at several universities across the nation.

Many members of the Boston University community agreed that a similar bill should not be brought to Massachusetts.

BU spokesman Colin Riley said it is “extraordinarily unlikely” the university would ever allow guns on campus.

“It will never happen in Massachusetts and certainly not at BU,” Riley said. “Gun laws may be looser in other states, but not in Massachusetts. There are other states where gun ownership and gun laws are different, but in Massachusetts they are restrictive.”

Some students said they do not feel like they need to carry a gun to be safe on BU’s campus.

“I think it’s completely unnecessary, especially in Boston where there’s intense security on campus. I just can’t think of one good reason to have guns on campus,” said College of Communications senior Casey Byron.

Allowing anyone with a gun license to bring their weapon to class made some students feel uneasy, they said.

“I think it’s actually making the campus more dangerous with more people allowed to just walk around with guns,” said COM junior Alyssa Palermo. “You’d have to have one to protect yourself – it just perpetuates violence.”

“I wouldn’t feel safe because in the college environment that I’ve experienced, there’s an insubstantial amount of trust,” added College of Arts and Sciences freshman Edmond Gamelin . “It’s pretty frivolous. It’s just exercising the second amendment. Even though it’s nice to fully explore the rights of being a U.S. citizen, it’s potentially dangerous with the prevalence of alcohol on a college campus.”

However, some people, such as Jon Green, the Gun Owners’ Action League director of education, argue that allowing guns on college campuses would be a good way for students to exercise their civil rights.

“I think that any person of good character should be about to carry arms for protection outside of their home,” Green said in a phone interview.  “I think we all have the moral and ethical responsibility to know how to carry and use fire arms safely.”

Others, such as Andrew Pelosi, the director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, are pushing for safer environments on college campuses.

“We have over 275 colleges and universities that are part of the coalition to keep guns off campus,” Pelosi said in a phone interview. “For the most part, campuses are safe environments.”

The homicide rate at college campuses was at 0.13 percent in 2000, according to a Safe Schools Initiative Division study, while the homicide rate of America as a whole was 5.7 percent.

However, if guns were allowed on college campuses, Pelosi said, crime rates may increase.

“I think that it’s hard to speculate, but if guns were to be stored in dormitories with drinking going on, they might be able to be stolen and used,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said many professors would be uncomfortable with lethal weapons in class.

If fights involving guns were to erupt, Pelosi said, it would be difficult for campus police officers to end a violent situation.

“Campus law enforcements are against this because they wouldn’t know how to tell who the good guy or the bad guy is in a fight,” he said. “Schools would have to hire more security.”

According to concealedcampus.org, Massachusetts is one of 24 states that expressly prohibit guns on campus.

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7 Comments

  1. Hi. I was actually interviewed on this topic, and I have noticed that my quotes have been integrated into another interviewees quotation. I am not at all offended or upset, but for future reference, the author of this article should pay careful attention to her notes when publishing an article. I am merely offering this as advice, not criticism. Otherwise, this is a well-written and informative article. Best of luck.

  2. Oh my, more wet behind the ear students who know nothing about reality preaching the sky is falling, the sky is falling, you and a few chicken littles are afraid so surely the sky is falling.

    A place of supposedly free thinking and higher learning is demanding to “PREVENT” peoples rights to choose based only on unsubstantiated fears.

    Such a normal idiotic response from a wet behind the ears college student, to believe a law prevents anything, much less your failure to prove a risk exists from licensed concealed carry.

    But hey, we see you are linked to thousands, uh no, hundreds, uh no, geez not even ten or single digit police reports where your obvious lack of skils in identifying current criminals carry concealed justifies your fears of NOT SEEING a law abiding citizen carrying concealed. This is hilarious, complaining about something, you can’t even see. Just another fine demonstration of your mental instability.

    Here are some facts you refuse to consider.

    Since 1997 US Census & avg. of NSSF & PEW surveys show 9 million more households own a firearm. (over 43 mil, 80 mil law abiding gun owners)

    8 mil people licensed to carry concealed BATF.

    12 to 15 more states inplement concealed carry to 41 shall isse & 7 may issue for total 48 states with concealed carry implemented, and no blood baths in the streets by law abiding citizens licensed to carry concealed.

    34 states implemented concealed carry in eateries serving alcohol and no bloodbaths in the streets by law abiding citizens licensed to carry concealed.

    3 states and 71 universities implementing concealed carry and geez, no bloodbaths as the chicken littles predicted, boy those anti gun nuts sure suck at predicting anything eh?
    Oh what are the dangers, based on the failed chicken little rants for oh what, the millionth time really builds your credibility there Sam!

    Lets review, US Census 2008 18.4 mil students, 42% 21 or older, 4,300 schools.

    US Census 2008 approx. 186 mil citizens 21 or older so 8 mil licensee’s / 186 mil = 4.3% of population licensed to carry concealed.

    So on any given day 18.4 mil x 42% = 7.728 mil x 4.3% = 332,304 / 4,300 = 77.28 people you may be near in a school licensed to carry concealed.

    Put another way 18.4 mil / 4,300 schools = 4,276 so 77 / 4,276 = 1.8% chance you will be around a person licensed to carry concealed.

    Now lets look at the avaiilable data on just how DANGEROUS a cpl licensee is.

    We will compare them to someone supposedly safe, a doctor.

    VPC Violence Policy Center, a rabid anti gun organization of one, posted a 2009 report, where they claimed the 8 mil cpl licensee’s killed 137 people over 3 years, or an average of .00000562 per licensee. Of course they didn’t have any of the context necessary to show or prove their claims, but that is normal for anti gun zealots. You can review the states databases, Florida & Texas are good places to start, and they show the same thing, only less.

    Now lets review doctors. JAMA Journal of American Medical Association Medical Malpractice report 2001 where the 700k doctors killed 44k to 98k people per year or an avg. of .065 to .14 deaths per physician.

    So .065 or .14 / .00000562 = 12,000 to 25,000 times less likely a person with a cpl license will kill you than your doctor.

    Of course you can figure the actual laws of probability of that occurring since you are at best around a cpl licensee 1.8% of the time, who is 12,000 to 25,000 times less likely to kill you than your doctor eh?

    By the way, since it is the BATF and government who fail to enforce the background check more than 1% of the time (USDOJ Background Check & Firearm Transfer report 2008) who exactly is responsible for allowing those people to buy a firearm? 99 mil checks since 1994, 1.67 mil valid rejections, 58% felons, 68% reduction in felons attempting to buy from a licensed source since 1994, 2000-2008 only 13,024 prosecuted.

    That means that on avg. 100,000 people rejected each year, only 1,500 are prosecuted, leaving the remainder, 40,000 of which include the crazies to go free.

    You do realize that since on avg. only 1,500 are prosecuted, that factoring in the death rate by firearms (FBI UCR database) of 3.2 per 100k people, and the CDC data of 6 injuries per death by firearms rate (2008 12,252 murders, 70k injuries), we see at best the most visible strict gun control law may have prevented 1 death and 6 injuries. (1,500/100,000)*3.2 = .048 deaths.

    Yeah funny how we can go to Shoney’s Alliston AL 1991,Pearl High School Mississippi 1997, Appalachian Laws School 2002, New lIfe Church Colorado Springs 2007, College Station Georgia May4th 2009 and compare those incidents where defensive gun use occurred in a gun free zone.

    Then compare the against 5 where defensive gun use did not occur in a gun free zone. Luby’s Cafeteria TX 1991, Columbine, N Illinois Univ, Va Tech, Ft Hood.

    Yeah funny how that body count is ten times higher in gun free zones where armed resistance did not occur by the civilians.

    Then again we can go to Keep & Bear Arms, KC3, American Rifleman, Armed Citizen web sites and see on avg. 90 defensive gun uses a month. Since these reports are collated from police reports of shootings, any claim of bias will just show everyone where the villages lost idiot is.

    Even weirder, we can count how many people in those incidents would have died and count 170 lives saved, not including injuries. But hey, facts don’t matter, well at least in fantasies they don’t.

    Oh wait, the doctors who failed to post or follow up with the police in Cho’s case, and the sheriff who refused to press charges against Loughner multiple times? Those weren’t the 80 mil law abiding gun owners fault was that. No they were not.

    So here you have no rational or substantiated facts, you can’t even point out who is carrying concealed to begin with, your doctor is 12,000 to 25,000 times more likely to kill you than a cpl licensee, and the govt. is the oines responsible for failure to enforce the background check more than 1% of the time letting of the 98,500 on average they should be prosecuting for a felony go, which includes 40,000 of those crazies, domestic violence, etc go to do what they please.

    Boy you surely have proven one thing, college students at your school don’t know jack schiite about this issue. You should probably sue your school for failing to teach you how to think for yourself as well as failing on how to properly research an issue.

    By the way, all those reports referenced, will show up in your little google inquiries and are independent of the NRA or any other pro gun organization, in facts most come from GOVERNMENT agencies. There are 40 more pages showing stuff like govt enforces laws less than 1% of the time, police only solve 8.75% of all violent crimes committed, criminals/gang members and suicides account for over 95% of all deaths where a firearm was used, 95.52% of felons dont even attempt to buy from a licensed source, 85% of all gun control laws don’t apply to felons (Hanes vs US 390, 85, 1968, police are not legally liable to protect the individual citizen etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc!

    So if you don’t like the data and the reality of their existence as the government recognizes they do, we suggest you use the tried and true tactic of all anti activists. Clap your hands over your ears, and start repeating LALALALALALALALALALA to infinity and that will surely make those pesky facts go away eh?

  3. There are already 71 campuses in three separate states (Utah, Colorado, Virginia) that allow concealed carry on campus. With Utah having allowed concealed carry on campus for the last five years, and do you know what the number of crimes committed either by, or against concealed carriers is? Times up, the answer is ZERO. Not one incidence of any concealed carrier doing anything illegal, not just gun crimes, but anything, likewise there have been ZERO accidents involving permit holders. So, just exactly what makes allowing concealed firearms on campus dangerous? By the way in order to get a concealed weapons license you must be 21 years old in every state that issues them.

  4. “I think it’s actually making the campus more dangerous with more people allowed to just walk around with guns,” said COM junior Alyssa Palermo. “You’d have to have one to protect yourself – it just perpetuates violence.”

    Perhaps Ms. Palermo, or anyone else, can cite to where legal carriers have “perpetuate(d) violence”…

    But I won’t hold my breath.

  5. Here is a simple solution. If these chicken little pansies want to ban guns from law abiding citizens because they are afraid of something they never can see or identify, let them. As a result, if any attack does occur, the school and any who supported the ban where the next attack occurrs are to be held criminally and financially liable for failing to protect those they denied the right to defend themselves.

    All schools who ban guns must also have a statement read to every potential student, it reads as follows..

    We at ” (gun ban UNiversity)” are not recognized as a place of free thinking where a persons rights and beliefs are respected. We only expect you to learn what we teach you and expect you to fully accept that what we program (oh sorry) TEACH you is the one and only truth.

    We expect you to believe without proof that your own unsubstantaited fears are the only justification for
    taking away anybody’s rights, especially if they are not one of the chosen, enlightened class of people like we are at “Gun Ban UNiversity”

    If an attack were to occur, we would expect you to die as we have disarmed you for your own safety. Especially as we have only our own unsubstantiated fears to show how only the oolice and government are mentally or physically capable of defnding you our loyal peasants.

    But this has a silver lining as we can then dance in your innocent blood and use all those emotions to further restrict your rights, but that is one of the costs of our necessary brain washing program at Gun ban University.

    In the end, our vast experience and teaching you how to NOT think for yourself or to not research and compare data and facts properly will help you tremendously to fit in with we, the few elitists who know what is good for everyone else.

    Have a good day and be careful if you happen upon a person defending their rights, they are easily demonized and persecuted for not obeying our false idol god, our all powerful central government!

    Yeah, that about sums up what these so called teachers that ban a person rights should be forced to have all incoming students read, what poetic justice that would be!

  6. Bringing a gun to a school implies that there might be someone at the school who will need to be shot. That is fundamentally stupid. It is also fundamentally sick. A school is a place where people are gathering ideas, not where they are afraid they are going to be shot. Universities are about learning. Guns in schools…. What is your problem? someone gets shot: If You said Yes, It IS your fault. I have the right not to have guns around my kids or professors, or anyone, in a school. Go practice your rights in a shooting gallery. Schools are about free speech, not freed bullets.

  7. “Schools are about free speech, not freed bullets.” … Nice sentiment… I’m sure it would look great on a bumper-sticker.

    But Jabrai Jordan Copney didn’t get the memo, apparently. Neither did Seung-Hui Cho… nor Amy Bishop… nor Steven Kazmierczak… nor the dozens and dozens of others in recent who have gone on murderous shooting rampages on school campuses.

    That’s the thing about criminals: the tend to break the law….

    There are plenty of “gun control” laws across the country (especially in MA)… yet, people who aren’t eligible to buy guns LEGALLY still manage to get them… likewise, there are laws against drugs, yet plenty of people still manage to get them… and there are laws against bank-robbery, and rape, and murder… but people still do that TOO.

    That’s the thing about criminals: they tend to break the law….

    So if some psycho wants to buy a gun, he’ll buy one – even if he can’t do it legally… and if he wants to carry it around with him, he’ll carry it around with him, even if he can’t get a “concealed-carry permit”… and if he wants to (illegally) carry his (illegally) purchased gun onto a college campus and commit MURDER, do you honestly think he’s going to be dissuaded by your stupid BUMPER STICKER?

    He doesn’t care about the school’s “no guns on campus” policy any more than he cares about your “right to not have guns at school”…

    But speaking of “rights”: I’m a 35-year-old Army combat veteran, and a legal gun-owner, with a legal permit for concealed-carry in MA, NH, and GA…. I have the “right” to protect myself, and I have been legally authorized to carry a concealed firearm.. So I do…

    When I go to the grocery store, or the mall, or the gas station, or the bank, or the movie theater, or the office – I’m carrying a firearm. But just because I’m carrying a gun at these places doesn’t “imply that there is someone there who will need to be shot”…

    Do you have a car? If so, I assume you have car insurance…. right? But does that mean you expect to get in a crash today? Same for health-insurance, or homeowners-insurance, or life-insurance… it doesn’t mean you expect to get sick, or lose your home to a fire, or DIE… it’s about being PREPARED for the “what if”…

    And I like to be prepared… I don’t like to be at the mercy of chance… and I refuse to be the helpless VICTIM of some violent criminal who clearly doesn’t care that “murder is wrong”…

    But now, after being Honorably Discharged from the military, I’ve decided to use my GI-Bill to go back to college… and even though I am TRUSTED and AUTHORIZED by the Police to safely and responsibly carry my firearm virtually EVERYWHERE, I am inexplicably prohibited from carrying it at school.

    The reality is: there are a LOT of decent law-abiding citizens with legal concealed-carry permits ALL AROUND YOU.. at the store, on the subway, at the theater, at the park, etc… more than you will ever know… but despite all these concealed guns at public places, we haven’t had a rash of random gun-violence at convenience stores and shopping malls as a result… in fact, 99.9% of the time, when a gun IS used in a violent crime, the perpetrator is NOT a legal gun-owner…

    So why should legal gun owners with valid police-issued concealed-carry permits be prohibited from carrying on college campuses, even though they are permitted to carry EVERYWHERE ELSE, EVERYDAY, and have done so WITHOUT INCIDENT?

    And more importantly, “what if”…? What if someone decides to go on a rampage at your college? The “rules” aren’t going to stop him… The LAWS aren’t going to stop him… and your bumber-sticker isn’t going to stop him… The only way to stop a crazed gunman on a murderous shooting spree is to SHOOT BACK. Unfortunately, it takes the Police anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to respond to the call – and that’s about 5 to 10 minutes more than a gunman needs in order to murder several helpless unarmed people, execution-style, point-blank range.

    It begs the question: Why schools? Why do these rampages happen at schools? One of the primary reasons is the fact that schools have been declared “gun-free zones”… The perp KNOWS his victims will be unarmed and helpless, and that the cops are at LEAST 5 minutes away… more than enough time to execute a few innocent students, right?

    Consider the shooting at Fort Hood a couple years ago by Major Hasan… What most people don’t realize is that U.S. Army posts are ALSO “gun-free zones”…. seems ridiculous, right? But it’s true… American Soldiers are not allowed to carry privately-owned firearms on Army bases… And Hasan knew this – and that’s why he was able to go on a 10-minute rampage, killing 14 people, before the authorities arrived and shot him. These kinds of on-post shootings don’t happen overseas, where everyone is carrying a loaded assault-rifle at all times. It’s also why there have never been any instances of shooting-sprees at places like NRA conventions or Gun-Shows… some people think that “more guns = more violence”, but it’s just the opposite… Even a suicidal gunman won’t open fire at a place like that, for the simple reason that knows he’s be probably be taken out before he even squeezes off a shot… so instead, he’ll find a “soft target”… someplace that’s a “gun-free zone”… that way, he knows he’ll be the only one there who’s armed.

    The when it comes to average everyday public places, the fact that a certain percentage of people at any given place MIGHT be armed is a HUGE deterrent to criminals. In fact, the overwhelming majority of incarcerated violent offenders surveyed have said they are much more afraid of a citizen who MIGHT be armed than they are of the actual POLICE.

    So think about this next time you’re tempted to condemn guns, and dismiss concealed-carry permit-holders as ‘right-wing NRA gun-nuts’ – the people out there who carry concealed firearms actually make the world safer for YOU… Take the guns away from the law-abiding citizens, and guess what: the CRIMINALS will still HAVE them, and it’ll be “open season”… (pun intended)…

    Overall: guns don’t kill people…. CRIMINALS with ILLEGAL guns kill people…