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Don't pack heat on campus

Arming colleges invites more bloodshed

Date published: 5/3/2008

ANATIONAL RIFLE Association representative spoke April 24 on the University of Mary Washington campus to a small group of students, suggesting that they and their fellow collegians would be safer if they carried concealed firearms to class. The NRA man was, of course, referencing last April's massacre at Virginia Tech.

That particular morning, 23-year-old Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 and wounded 29, then slew himself, in an act of rage that still defies explanation. In the aftermath of that slaughter, many thought to themselves, "If only someone had stopped him sooner."

Had just one student or faculty member had a gun, some have said, Cho could have been stopped before his victims reached 62, saving perhaps dozens of lives. But others believe that an ensuing crossfire between Cho and armed campus civilians could have cost more lives.

This is not really a Second Amendment right-to-bear-arms issue; it is a need and safety issue. Do students really need to carry guns on campus for their own personal protection, and would the presence of more guns there make college a safer place for all?

Notwithstanding the Tech slaughter, the murder rate on college campuses is 0.28 per 100,000 people, far less than the overall U.S. murder rate of 5.5 per 100,000. This means that a non-student is at least 20 times more likely to be a murder victim than a student at college. Also, 70 percent of all murders are committed with a gun.

Within the last decade, the Harvard School of Public Health conducted a random sample of over 15,000 undergraduates from 130 four-year colleges. In that survey, 3.5 percent of the student respondents indicated they had a firearm at college. The study concluded that students with guns on campus were more likely to binge-drink, to drive drunk, and to suffer an injury severe enough to require medical attention.

Overall, the study found that students with guns on campus were more likely than those without guns to engage in activities that put them and others at risk.

Were all states to allow students and others to carry guns on campus, the danger for everyone at affected schools would likely increase. We know, for example, that the No. 2 cause of death for college students is suicide. Some 25,000 college students each year attempt suicide, and 1,100 succeed.

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Date published: 5/3/2008

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