In yesterday’s editorial “Way Off Target,” The Sun made several naïve assertions about the issue of concealed carry on campus.
It stated that “weapons of intimidation” have no place in the “open society” that is the university, marked by “free inquiry, unhindered debate, and giving full credence” to all opinions. The insinuation seems to be that, if allowed on campus legally, guns would be used to intimidate those with whom we disagreed. This hypothetical is completely and absolutely baseless, and represents a much larger flaw in thinking.
Many of the people The Sun so fears likely do have concealed carry permits —these people simply aren’t allowed to carry on campus. Legally, carrying citizens are anything but a rarity off-campus (about 1 in 20 have permits in Pennsylvania, for instance). So instead of presenting emotionally-based “what if”’s, the Sun need only look to the 41 states where concealed carry is liberally allowed, and see that bsolutely none of their dazzling hypothetical situations ever occur elsewhere.
Instead, The Sun prefers to live in a fantasy utopia, valuing “the comfort that comes with the assumption that your lab partner isn’t packing heat” and a “sense of safety.”
It would behoove The Sun to enter the real world. Assumptions do not reality make, and safety is not achieved simply by perceiving it. If your lab partner is not carrying a gun because it’s illegal, he is not going to decide to commit murder just because carrying is legal (he would never do that off-campus, why would he here?). However, if the assumption is wrong and he is indeed armed with the intent to hurt someone, he has free range to do just that. Is The Sun willing to bet on how long it will take the police to get to Baker 102?
We do agree with The Sun that both quality mental health services and a strong police force on campus are necessary and helpful, but they simply aren’t enough to solve the problem. A real solution would be to — as they are allowed in the vast majority of public places — permit qualified students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on campus.
John Farragut ’11
Treasurer, Cornell Republicans