Legislation would allow concealed weapons on campuses
By SEANNA ADCOX - Associated Press Writer
COLUMBIA, S.C. --
Some South Carolina lawmakers believe allowing people to carry concealed weapons on school campuses could prevent massacres like last month's slayings at Virginia Tech.
Nearly 20 lawmakers have signed on to a measure that would allow concealed weapons on public school and college campuses. If signed in to law, South Carolina would join Utah as the only states that have laws allowing people to carry hidden weapons on campuses.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jeff Duncan, said Monday that such a measure could have stopped Virginia Tech student Seung-Hui Cho from killing 32 people during his rampage.
"He walked in that building without anybody having the ability to stop him," said Duncan, R-Clinton, whose bill is set for House debate Wednesday. "That guy was fairly certain no one on that campus other than security had firearms and could protect themselves."
Rep. Mike Pitts, a retired police officer, said such tragedies can never be prevented altogether but that a "trained individual with a handgun" could contain the damage.
"He could have killed two or three. He could not have killed 32," said Pitts, R-Laurens, who holds a concealed weapon permit, as does his daughter, a soon-to-be college graduate. "Police are a thin blue line. They can't be everywhere."
U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has said that having more guns on college campuses is not the way to prevent campus violence. Instead, authorities should enforce existing laws concerning the ownership and use of handguns, he said during a speech last week in Oklahoma.
Nationwide, 38 states - including Virginia and South Carolina - ban weapons at schools. Of those, 16 explicitly prohibit weapons on college campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
To obtain a concealed weapon permit in South Carolina, a resident must be at least 21, undergo at least eight hours of handgun training, and pass criminal and mental background checks. More than 53,150 South Carolina residents have permits to carry concealed weapons, according to the State Law Enforcement Center.
Duncan's measure doesn't specify who would be allowed to carry the weapons and he said Monday he's willing to limit gun holders on campuses to school staff. He said he'd feel better knowing the principal or another employee at his three young sons' school had access to a weapon.
Clemson University senior Andrew Davis, chairman of the Clemson Conservatives, contacted legislators to push the idea after the Virginia Tech shootings. The 22-year-old Surfside Beach native said the Virginia Tech massacre "clearly shows campus police forces don't have the manpower to secure the entire campus."
"It reawakened the feeling inside that as a student, I had a need to protect myself," Davis said. He said he plans to undergo training for a permit after he graduates later this week.
Clemson University police Chief Johnson Link declined comment on the bill, saying he needs to study it.
Jonathan Knight, director of academic freedom at the Washington-based American Association of University Professors, said he thinks the proposal could incite more violence than it stops. Tragedies like the one at Virginia Tech, the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, are remembered because they're so rare, Knight said.
He said he fears what would happen if guns are legally allowed on campuses. The relationship between students and the professors who grade them could also be damaged, he said. "Would we expect a shootout in the classroom?" he asked.
The South Carolina School Boards Association also opposes the idea.
"It is disconcerting that we are considering a proposal that would open the flood gates for more weapons in school - even lawful ones," said association Director Paul Krohne.
He said legislators should instead provide money for a police officer in every school and an emergency notification system for every classroom.
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This is great! We would become like Utah! I am going to go write my reps now to support this.
And tell the School Boards Association where they can stick it.
Especially on the ones who continuously disrupt her classes and labs. Not to mention the few intelligent ones who are just plain lazy.:banghead: 