Professors packing heat!?

[GoVols876]

Senate Bill 3730, sponsored by State Senator Dewayne Bunch (R-09) and companion House Bill 3014, sponsored by State Representative Stacey Campfield (R-18), would authorize full-time faculty and staff with valid handgun carry permits at public schools, colleges, and universities in Tennessee to carry handguns upon completion of an annual firearms training course. Both bills are in respective Judiciary Committees.

If this bill passes, it will allow staff and faculty to carry weapons on campus. There has been a lot written for both sides of the argument in our newspaper about why this is a good or bad thing. I wanted to know how you guys feel about it.

Personally, I do not like the idea of people carrying guns on campus. It makes me uneasy. I think schools should be gun/drug/alcohol free zones. The fewer guns on campus the better.

[WAY-J]

College with no beer??? repent son, you are going to hell.

[dickens821]

Originally Posted by GoVols876

Senate Bill 3730, sponsored by State Senator Dewayne Bunch (R-09) and companion House Bill 3014, sponsored by State Representative Stacey Campfield (R-18), would authorize full-time faculty and staff with valid handgun carry permits at public schools, colleges, and universities in Tennessee to carry handguns upon completion of an annual firearms training course. Both bills are in respective Judiciary Committees.

If this bill passes, it will allow staff and faculty to carry weapons on campus. There has been a lot written for both sides of the argument in our newspaper about why this is a good or bad thing. I wanted to know how you guys feel about it.

Personally, I do not like the idea of people carrying guns on campus. It makes me uneasy. I think schools should be gun/drug/alcohol free zones. The fewer guns on campus the better.

Yeah. That way when some idiot with a semi-automatic pistol and a sawed off shotgun walks into our classrooms we are stuck there with nothing to defend ourselves with.

[volfan55]

It would end people sowing up late for class and talking back i guess...

[lawgator1]

Originally Posted by dickens821

Yeah. That way when some idiot with a semi-automatic pistol and a sawed off shotgun walks into our classrooms we are stuck there with nothing to defend ourselves with.

I say with great confidence that the rare scenario in which that prevention actually might occur would be dwarfed by epsiodes of teacher's guns killing or injuring people accidentally, being stolen and used at that time or later, or being way too handy in the heat of an argument.

I don't know about your professors, but thinking back to mine, if any of them had a gun and some nut walked in and started shooting, I have very little hope that the professor's ownership of a gun, which may or may not be accessible, loaded, and in working order, and which the professor may or may not have any clue how to operate, would do anything other than make the situation worse before it made it better.

You want to do something abut this issue, use metal detectors or post security around campuses. That's about the best you can do.

[volfan55]

OR why not have a guard in every building?

[allvol123]

Originally Posted by lawgator1

I say with great confidence that the rare scenario in which that prevention actually might occur would be dwarfed by epsiodes of teacher's guns killing or injuring people accidentally, being stolen and used at that time or later, or being way too handy in the heat of an argument.

I say your great confidence is mistaken. Most gunowners I know are very aware of where their guns are kept and take measures to make sure other people don't get their hands on them.

[lawgator1]

Originally Posted by allvol123

I say your great confidence is mistaken. Most gunowners I know are very aware of where there guns are kept and take measures to make sure other people don't get their hands on them.

How many of them are professors?

[volinbham]

I've been teaching college for almost 18 years. I can't imagine carrying a gun to class to prevent a shooting. I would imagine I've "gone to class" about 5000 times in that period. The odds of having a gun in the exact instance when it is needed is incredibly low.

[allvol123]

Originally Posted by lawgator1

How many of them are professors?

You mean educated people that live repsonsible lives? Well none are professors, but I would hope people that have made education their profession would understand the significance of packing.

[allvol123]

Originally Posted by volinbham

I've been teaching college for almost 18 years. I can't imagine carrying a gun to class to prevent a shooting. I would imagine I've "gone to class" about 5000 times in that period. The odds of having a gun in the exact instance when it is needed is incredibly low.

I agree. Just saying I don't think it is a big deal if someone wants to carry one.

[VolunteerHillbilly]

I think a big part of this proposal is to make potential wrongdoers at least consider the possibility that they may be facing armed resistance, as opposed to fish in a barrel.

[lawgator1]

Originally Posted by allvol123

I agree. Just saying I don't think it is a big deal if someone wants to carry one.

You are forgetting all of the bad consequences of that, accidental and intentional.

Originally Posted by VolunteerHillbilly

I think a big part of this proposal is to make potential wrongdoers at least consider the possibility that they may be facing armed resistance, as opposed to fish in a barrel.

No offense, but when people started making that very same argument in the case of the Va Tech or the other recent Illinois college shooting incident I wanted to throttle the speaker for ignoring the obvious fact that the shooters in those cases planned to die and didn't care about someone else having a gun.

The notion that some lunatic, who is bent on going into a room or building full of students and shooting up the place, is going to be dissuaded from doing so because he might get shot by a professor is just ridiculous.

[BigPapaVol]

LG,

I'm with you, guns kill people. Let's get rid of all of 'em.

[KB5252]

Originally Posted by volinbham

I've been teaching college for almost 18 years. I can't imagine carrying a gun to class to prevent a shooting. I would imagine I've "gone to class" about 5000 times in that period. The odds of having a gun in the exact instance when it is needed is incredibly low.

Yes but if it were and it helped to save a couple of lives it sure was worth it. The odds are low that it would be handy at the instance it was needed unless it was concealed and ready at all times. Here is a scenario for you. You take two small cities. One city requires that you keep a gun in your home. The other city has laws that prevent people from owning guns. Which city would have a higher rate of burglaries and home invasions?