Gun Advocacy Group Promotes College Student Gun Rights

Story by Tom Smith

One of the fastest-growing groups on college campuses is a concealed gun advocacy group called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. Started on the internet after the April 2007 shooting massacre at Virginia Tech that took 32 lives, the organization’s membership has reached 25,000 on 305 campuses.

S.C.C.C. wants gun laws changed so students with valid gun permits may legally carry concealed weapons, following the model of Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Va. and all public universities in Utah.

The gun advocacy group will stage its second nationwide protest called “Empty Holster Day” the week of April 21. Members will hand out information and wear empty holsters on campus as a symbol of their support for allowing students in all states to carry concealed weapons at school.

The S.C.C.C. Web site lists chapters on seven campuses in Illinois: Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal, Eureka College in Eureka, Parkland College in Champaign, DePaul University, Aurora University, Wheaton College and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Following the mass shooting at Virginia Tech a year ago, 15 state legislatures sought to join Utah, Colorado and Virginia and allow students to bring weapons on campus. Bills in 11 states failed, but measures in Arizona, Louisiana, Ohio and South Carolina are still active, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Twenty-three-year-old Cho Seung-Hui, a mentally disturbed student, walked into Norris Hall at Virginia Tech and opened fire with automatic handguns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, killing 32 before taking his own life.

“He came in fast and hard. Shell casings bounced off the walls,” said 30-year-old Garrett Evans of Chicago. He survived the shooting and said allowing students to bring guns to campus would be a mistake. Garrett spoke to a forum on gun laws in Naperville April 14, the two-month anniversary of the Northern Illinois University shooting which took six lives including the gunman.

“Concealed carry is a huge no no,” said Evans “You don’t know how you’re going to react, especially in a confined space like a classroom,” he said.

Evans was shot in the leg and still has bullet fragments as a physical reminder of the tragedy. He graduated in 2007 and now lives in Chicago.

Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states which ban concealed weapons entirely in pubic. Other states allow it, subject to guidelines and restrictions that vary state to state. However, the right to carry a concealed weapon rarely extends to a college campus.

The 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act passed by Congress bans all guns from school property K-12, but that law does not apply to higher education. However, most colleges and universities have a no-gun policy. Gun rules on campus can be stricter than a state’s gun law, but they are not permitted to be more lenient.

Under Illinois law, college students are not allowed to bring a gun on campus without prior permission from the campus police chief. However, policies vary around the state.

At Southern Illinois University in Carbondale students must keep their guns in a locked cabinet inside the public safety office, but at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana the campus safety director doesn’t store student guns under any circumstances.

S.C.C.C.’s success at changing gun laws hasn’t matched the lightning speed of its membership growth, but it hopes “Empty Holster Day” will make the difference.

“We’re licensed, trained and already carrying concealed guns to the mall and the movie theater, so why not on campus? The world is a dangerous place,” said S.C.C.C. spokeswoman Katie Kasprzak, a senior at Texas State University in San Marcus.

“Many students are fearful at the mere thought of guns on campus, but a lot of students are open-minded about it,” said Steve Feltoon, S.C.C.C.’s Midwest coordinator.

For some, training is the key.

“I have no problem with teachers having a gun, or a designated person as long as they are trained – not just anyone,” said Jeff Biertzer, a sophomore at Columbia College. He said students with guns on campus could lead to a tragedy if an argument got out of hand.