Jerry O’Connor
Guest-Viewpoint by Jerry O’ Connor
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The Oct. 26 edition of The Ranger included an editorial that opposes the intent of the campus carry law, as well as a perspective from an “undecided” student.
Please consider this:
If some de-ranged individual decides it’s time to make their perverted point at SAC (or one of the other Alamo Colleges), who will be there to stop them in the first critical seconds?
If you are in the first or second classroom to be visited, what are your chances?
Where could you hide?
What would prevent the attacker from shooting everyone they can find for whatever reason?
It would take some time for DPS to find out what’s happening and then more time to get there.
How many would be killed or injured before they arrive?
Having someone in the classroom who could return fire might not completely prevent casualties and injuries, but it would most certainly reduce the number.
Also, please consider that the individuals who commit these atrocities typically select venues, which prohibit concealed carry, and, in most cases, take their own life as soon as they are confronted by armed resistance.
For example, do you know that the Colorado theater shootings occurred at the only one of seven theaters in the area that prohibited concealed carry?
The concerns about students “retaliating by bringing a gun to class if they get a bad grade” or “students being afraid to come to school if they do not know which of their classmates is armed” are unfounded.
People who have passed the required background checks for concealed carry permits are more law- abiding than the general public.
If we want to make a claim for data-informed decisions, wouldn’t it make sense to look at the data first?
A study from the Crime Prevention Research Center, which has collected data on concealed carry permit holders, can be accessed at www.crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Concealed-Carry-Permit-Holders-Across-the-United-States.pdf
In Colorado, individuals with permits can carry concealed handgun in most malls, stores, movie theaters and restaurants.
But private businesses can determine whether permit holders can carry guns on their private property.
Most movie theaters allow permit holders carrying guns.
But the Cinemark movie theater was the only one with a sign posted at the theater’s entrance.
Jerry O’Connor is a professor in the physics, engineering and architecture department at this college.
