IMO, this is a catch 22 situation. I'm both for and against it and can't support it one way or the other.
I'm for campus carry because the perceived threat of deadly force is plenty to deter all but the most determined criminals.
However, I don't support it for two reasons: I've had a gun put to the back of my head before and know that unless you are proactive in self defense, the gun is really useless to you. In that instance I was working for an alcoholic boss and never expected that anything like that would happen, I've learned better since that. I also used to work at a Wal-Mart near Purdue and frequent a range near there for quite a while and all too often saw people buy a gun for self defense that never took the time to learn what it was they needed or how to use one properly. I too often heard the questions; I'm buying this for SD, will it work OK (in reference to a hunting rifle) or I bought this for SD, but don't know how it works (in reference to any gun it was at the time). It got even worse at Wal-Mart because customers would complain about not being able to buy pepper spray or tasers at that store. I'd try to educate them on why they needed to do some shooting and reading before buying, but I never got far.
Using Purdue as an example for On-Campus violent crimes, since I go here, (
http://www.purdue.edu/police/assistance/clery.htm): Rape's average about 2 a yr, Sexual Battery's average about 3 a yr, Robbery's & Aggravated Assault's average 1 a yr, Burglary's average about 55 a yr, Arson's average 1 a yr, and Car theft's average about 4 a yr. Not too violent, but it's quite common to read in the Exponent the next morning about last nights strong armed robbery on the bus.
In general, the campus itself is pretty quiet. However, there are some very dark places around there at night that I wouldn't want to even be caught dead in. Combine that with multiple bars right across the street from the campus and all of the sudden you have a very dangerous mix. Drunk people with guns is always a bad combination.
State's shouldn't tell the schools what to do, unless its a state school like Purdue. The schools themselves need to make the decision as to whether or not to allow campus carry.
