Students Aim to Put Guns on Campus

In wake of shootings, group presses right to pack heat
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2007 11:43 AM CST
Students Aim to Put Guns on Campus
George Mason University student and former active duty Marine Andrew Dysart stands on the George Mason campus with an empty holster in Fairfax, Va., Thursday, Aug. 9, 2007. In the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings, Dysart is advocating the right of students with concealed handgun permits to carry...   (Associated Press)

Thousands of college students think they have a way to make their campuses safer: more guns. Students with a license to carry concealed weapons should be able to do it on campus, argues the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. “It’s the basic right of self defense,” said one student. “Here on campus, we don’t have that right.”

Many states have laws against collegiate firearms, and universities usually forbid them— rules many say are common sense. “Introducing random access to firearms is not the solution,” said an anti-gun activist. “You have more victims, not fewer.” But the student group is gaining steam, and recently held its first national protests, with students at 110 schools wearing empty holsters to class. (More gun control stories.)

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