Headine: Bills Favoring (Concealed) Guns on Campus Advance in 2 States

From Today's Inside Higher Ed:
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Bills Favoring Guns on Campus Advance in 2 States

Legislation to permit those registered to carry concealed weapons to carry them on college campuses is advancing in Missouri and Texas. In Texas, the House Public Safety Committee has now approved a measure that appears to have the support of a majority in the House of Representatives, The Houston Chronicle reported. In Missouri, the House of Representatives voted Thursday to lift a ban on carrying concealed weapons on campuses, KOMU News reported. In both states, legislators favoring concealed weapons on campus say that students would be safer if they could respond to a threat. But in both states, some legislators and most campus safety experts say that guns pose unique dangers on campuses, where students are not necessarily mature and may be tempted to use firearms while drunk. In the words of Missouri Rep. Chris Kelly: "College boys love things that go boom. What we don't need is beer and college boys and firearms."

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/10/qt#196182
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*Aggie Librarian does the Happy Dance*

Hot damn, that's a news item I'm glad to see. Earlier in the week I got a broadcast email from a library colleague who noted the faculty senate was discussing this legislation and what our university's response would be; She asked for all staff who supported the measure to email her. I did so. May have been alone in doing so, and I hope not, but I stated that I fully support this legislation.

Of course, the Hoplophobia is running high in the comments section of Inside Higher Ed; One even mixes it with conspiracy theory, saying it's a clandestine assault in the ongoing war against public education in Texas. While I would agree with the poster that higher education funding IS under assault, as are science standards in the public schools (both situations I deplore), legalizing CHLs to be able to exercise their constitutional right on campus as well as off is a GOOD thing. These measures have failed in other states, but according to the Houston Chronicle article, this bill has a good chance of passing in the Texas Legislature, and I for one am thrilled. Why should Utah's state universities enjoy more constitutional liberties than we do in Texas? Last I checked the headlines, the blood was not flowing in the streets around the Harrold ISD school district in Texas either (Harrold ISD made the decision to allow teachers with CHLs to carry concealed while on duty if they want to).

Of course, the tired old Canard about 'drunken frat boys with gunz' is getting tossed around again. Texas has had concealed carry on the books since 1994, and has seen a reduction in the crime rate. Expanding concealed carry to state colleges and universities is highly unlikely to coincide with a wave of violent crimes on campus, any more than the original passage of Concealed Carry back in 1994.

It's already a crime for a CHL to consume alcohol while carrying, and it's illegal for a CHL to enter a premises that derives 51% or more of its sales from alcohol purchases, legally defined as a "Bar". Campus carry won't change those provisions.
Reckless gun use is still a crime and would continue to be a crime. It is a crime to fail to properly conceal in Texas. A Texas CHL must currently be 21 years or older to possess a handgun or even buy handgun ammo. Career criminals frequently carry guns that it is already illegal for them to possess--they don't give a damn about piss-ant "weapons" charges; these are thugs who are intent on much worse. Prohibitionist laws impact only the law-abiding like me. If someone tries to launch a murderous rampage in my library, the only thing I can currently do is try to escape the building as fast as I can, hide in the stacks, or under my desk, or (literally) throw a book at said hypothetical gunman. OED vs. Gun...not the best odds of survival. Gun vs. Gun...raises my chances to about 50%-50%, give or take, depending on the tactical situation. And if I survive that encounter by stopping the threat, then I save not only my own life but potentially dozens more.

This law, if passed, would also mean that many of our non-traditional age commuter students could legally carry a pistol in their purses or on their persons and have a better chance of surviving a violent attack or preventing rape altogether. My university is traditionally majority women, and was for most of its history a single sex school for women only. I can only hope with time that the injustice of disarming citizens 18-20 years old will only become more glaringly obvious if the Campus Protection Act passes the Texas Legislature. But in any case, for the graduate student coming to campus for night classes after work and staying in the library until closing time doing research, not to mention library staff (who are also mainly female) that have to close up around midnight to go home, our campus will be that much safer after this law is passed.

The main thing I would benefit from is convenience in my after-hours routines, if I'm wanting to drop by campus to either get a little work done or use the ATM in the student union. Since normally outside of work I carry virtually everywhere permitted by law always, if I do need to swing by campus I have to make a point of going home first to disarm and then heading back disarmed to campus so that I can legally enter campus buildings without breaking the law. Current law is stupid, but I still obey it because I'm a law-abiding citizen. The existing law inconveniences only me, not the career criminal, who ignores it and actually favors restrictions on good citizens like me, because it makes me a more compliant/easy victim for them to attack.

I am sort of agnostic with respect to the Open Carry debate. In principle, I have no opposition to OC. In practice, I think it would still freak out way too may people. Even if OC were legal in Texas, I would still prefer concealment as my personal choice, and most definitely in a work setting. In a legalized OC world, I might OC if I were, say, out riding a bike (where effective concealment could be a real pain in the *ss--literally), or maybe stepping outside to take out the trash (nowadays I just slip a .22 LR "mousegun" in the pocket of my cargo shorts, which i otherwise store in its case near my bathtub).

I think we will get to OC eventually, but it could take a few more years or even a decade. I would also be ok with getting there via baby-steps, starting with licensed OC first. OC with a "Texas militia badge" embossed with Sam Houston's face, our state's most famous militia leader, to be worn on the gun belt in plain view with a shape distinctive enough to NOT be mistaken for a LEO but to be clearly identified as "good guy", Joe Citizen. Only to be worn when OC-ing, too.
Some people think there should be badges for CHLs who do carry concealed but I strongly oppose THAT. It defeats the point of--carrying concealed, e.g. the element of surprise that keeps criminals less sure who can fight back, which in turn keeps us all safer.

Anyway, I'm delighted that Missouri already passed their law, and I hope Texas is able to follow suit very soon. Once it's law, I think it would be political suicide for an Texas Democrat to push to repeal it. People don't like to give up new freedom once they gain it and get to enjoy and exercise those freedoms.

Any campus shooting is a tragedy, and also a "Black Swan" event. But as the old saying goes in the gun rights community, better to have your gun and not need it than to need it and not have one. Just because a wreck is statistically unlikely doesn't mean you should not wear your seatbelt.

It also occurred to me walking to my car today that the prohibitionist logic runs something like this: Because rape is a horrible crime, and because all men are at least potential rapists via 'date rape', and because pedophiles walk among us, then ALL SEX SHOULD BE BANNED. FOR THE CHILDREN'S SAKE, naturally. Clamp down on sex offenders by making everyone a sex offender, in other words (*facepalm*).

The exact same "logic" (i.e. illogic) is operating when it comes to campus gun bans or gun banning in general (like in those islands off the coast of Europe formerly known as Great Britain--and sadly the Republic of Ireland, who darn well should know better, as should my ancestral Scotland, who got to experience firearms confiscations in 1715 and 1745). Such laws don't deter criminals and only harass and harm the law-abiding.

Other states are actually ahead of Texas (Utah, Alaska, Vermont) but we're finally starting to live up to our Lone Star Image in the popular imagination...in good and bad ways. But this way is a good way, even if my fellow Lefties disagree with me on this one.

Kudos to my State senator, who co-sponsored the senate version of this legislation, and to my state rep, who at least voiced lukewarm support and whom I will hold accountable next election if she fails to vote for this.

TLA wrap-up, some brief thoughts.

The Texas Library Association 2009 conference concluded today; I attended a highly technical talk given on the MARCedit program by its creator, which was pretty cool. Much of the discussion was WAY over my head, but it was good to be exposed to the material. I also got an informed opinion on how to handle MeSH headings, and it was good advice that I will heed, and MARCedit can help manage it.

In general, I actually got a lot out of a few Web/Libr 2.0 talks this time around, not least because the speakers didn't trash library traditions or hector us to "evolve or die!" or anything like that. THAT approach usually gets my back up and puts me on the defensive. This was not the case. The presenters I watched, both prominent Library bloggers, let their humanism show and I very much appreciated their re-affirmation of core library values and commitments. It put me at ease to hear them describing wanting to use technology to re-connect people back to the reading life of books, and to foster community around reading experiences. I really needed to hear that, and it did not go unnoticed.

I will probably soften/moderate my criticism of Libr/Web 2.0 from now on by way of response. I'm enjoying reading Slow Reading by John Miedema; Mr. Miedema is a self-professed former proponent (or at least believer in) of the all-digital future, that print would be rendered obsolete by technology, etc. He no longer accepts that view, while I never did. Some of his revelations are almost amusing to me as a result. I'm glad he changed his views, but I can't help snickering sometimes at why he ever thought that way in the first place. While no doubt some of his revelations were profoundly significant to him, to me they often produce a "well, duh..." response. Still, like I said, I'm glad he turned around and joined the Humanist side contra the ueber Technocrats.

I continue to be deeply impressed by LibLime, and their support for Koha and now Biblios.net; They are shy to say so, but Biblios.net is basically an open source bibliographic metadata web Database that could potentially rival OCLC. In any case, I'm thrilled by the SLIS-educational potential of both Koha and of Biblios.net; I'm thrilled that new catalogers just graduating and seeking jobs can now use Biblios.net to build a profile of sample records and save them in Biblios.net to present to potential employers to demonstrate a knowledge of the rules and an ability to apply them. They could even get creative and catalog their own YouTube videos. That would impress me if I were looking to hire a new MLS as a Catalog librarian. It's an exciting time to be in libraries, definitely.

I thought about getting up early to attend the NextGen Reference talk, but I just couldn't drag myself out of bed this morning. I'm not sure if anyone from my institution even bothered to attend TLA. If they did, they did not attend any of the sessions I did, nor did I see any of them in the hallways of the GRB between sessions, nor on the Exhibits floor. I did see a TWU graduate student from the SLIS program whom I have been mentoring of late; this student decided to do her practicum with our tech services department. I helped her with the cataloging aspects of tech services, eventually letting her do original cataloging on a VHS tape, and also assign LC subject headings to some Texas State Documents that lacked them, which was a good intellectual exercise.

It was a very worthwhile conference, and I'm very grateful my director and assistant director gave me the leave time and funding to attend. I plan to head back to North Texas by Sunday. I am doubtful that I will attend either the next TLA in San Antonio, nor the next one after that in Austin. I will go again when it swings back around to Dallas, assuming I'm still in the same position by that time, which I probably will be, if all continues to go well.

I remain skeptical of RDA and am going to continue researching the topic; I got some good tips at TLA of some RDA skeptics besides Michael Gorman (who I nevertheless adore and respect). LC treats RDA like the US Gov't treats AIG...as "Too Big To Fail". Psychology of past investment, all that. We'll see.