Just wrote a letter to the editor, maybe it will get published...
In most states, a period of firearms training is required before
concealed carry permits may be issued, pending criminal background checks and a
final review by the Sheriff for quality control of the applicants.
However, If the Sheriff is concerned with young adults in college
being armed, who are "Inexperienced" with firearms, then he should at the very
least allow young adults in college who are "Experienced" in firearms to be able to carry
concealed firearms.
There are plenty of off duty or former Police Officers getting their degrees in Criminal
Justice, plenty of returning Soldiers, Marines, Airmen and Sailors using their GI Bills, or ROTC cadets who have had practical firearms experience enough to understand basic rules of engagement, and basic firearms tactics. The quality and quantity of firearms training possessed by these "Students" may even rival the training received by the deputies the Sheriffs Office would send to respond to an incident at the University.
If the Sheriff doesnt want to see the average college student on campus armed,
as is their Constitutional Right, then he should atleast allow those
students with exceptional firearms qualifications to be armed on campus, in order
to respond to those criminals who dont give a darn about campus firearms laws,
and who take advantage of a wholly unarmed populace upon whom they vent their
mayhem.
"Americans [have] the right and advantage of being armed - unlike
citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with
arms."- James Madison
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man." -- Thomas Jefferson in "Commonplace Book," 1774-1776, quoting from On Crimes and Punishment, by criminologist Cesare Beccaria, 1764
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its
own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there
are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the
path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good
men with rifles."- Col. Jeff Cooper
