There is a 99.9 percent chance that I will have my concealed carry permit (CCW) when I turn 21.
There is a 99.9 percent chance that if made legal by House Bill 48 to carry firearms on campus (and the University approves the concealed carry) that I will carry my legally owned and concealed firearm on campus daily.
There is a 100 percent chance that I will not shoot people, whether students or teachers, because I don’t like what they have to say.
Teachers at the University of Houston are being trained on how to talk about sensitive topics that may upset students; and by trained on how to talk about these topics, I mean cautioned not to talk about them at all.
The reason this training, through PowerPoint presentation, has come about is because Texas has recently passed a law, that will go into effect in August, similar to that of House Bill 48, allowing firearms to be carried on college campuses.
Teachers are having their freedom of speech censored because they fear gun violence from legally carrying students who will be offended by sensitive topics.
I first want to reiterate every other pro-House Bill 48 argument that making it legal to carry a firearm on campus does not make it more dangerous for students.
If someone wants to commit a violent act with a firearm, they are more likely to do it by illegal carrying, and obtaining, of the firearm, rather than through the legal process. However, allowing properly trained people to carry firearms can prevent criminals from hurting more people.
Let’s not beat a dead horse though.
I’d rather start by looking at the demographic of college students, since everyone seems to be so worried with censoring speech that may offend us so far as to kill like we’re irrational beings.
You have to be 21 to obtain a CCW. In most university circumstances, less than half of students are even eligible to concealed carry. Let’s say for most this is beginning to mid junior year, sometimes even later. What junior-level college student do you know that will be willing to dedicate eight hours of training, $100 or more for the training and another $60 to $100 for the actual permit depending on how long they have been a citizen of Ohio?
Let me tell you what kind of college student would dedicate those resources. It’s the ones who probably don’t need that eight hour training to begin with because they’ve been using firearms their whole lives, the ones who really care about second amendment rights and the ones who would never do anything to make people frown upon gun use more than they already do (especially not something as stupid as shooting a professor for saying something that may offend them).
These students who would get their CCW most likely care just as much, if not more, about their first amendment rights as their second, which means not pressuring teachers, students, advisors or anyone else to refrain from talking about something in fear of offending someone.
Let’s be honest about the fact that most people that are unfamiliar with firearms are afraid of them. Even after the eight hours of CCW classes, most still won’t feel confident carrying without extensive practice on their own, so no one should be worried about reckless citizens holding CCW permits.
If you want to know the real statistics, according to the Crime Prevention Center, located in Florida, only 0.006 percent of concealed handgun permit owners have had their permit revoked from 1987-2014 for any gun-related crime, because they are not the ones committing the crimes. In fact, the most common crime permits are revoked for is accidentally carrying a firearm into a gun-free zone, like an airport or school. That’s about 0.0002 percent annually.
To make it better, the rates are getting lower over time, and between 2008 to 2014 there were only four permits revoked.
You can see by comparing that to the statistics of all gun-related crimes, that those concealed carry holders are not the problem with gun violence.
The Crime Prevention Research Center even showed that CCW permit holders commit less crimes than police officers (roughly 0.01 percent for police officers and 0.0003 percent for CCW holders nationally).
So, I’m going to once again reiterate: Having knowledgeable people carrying firearms does not put anyone in increased danger, but it is more likely to save a life.
Violent crimes are going to happen by violent people, which is not usually those who go about the process of legally obtaining a firearm and the training to carry it.
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