Young Guns

‘ ‘ ‘ Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is a nationwide group comprised of college… ‘ ‘ ‘ Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is a nationwide group comprised of college students, faculty, parents and citizens who are united in support of allowing those who obtain concealed carry licenses to have the right to carry their weapons on college campuses. The national group formed after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, but the Pitt chapter formed after the shooting at Northern Illinois University last winter. Some schools in both Utah and Colorado have amended their policies to allow concealed carry on campus; as of yet, Pitt has not. The Pitt News attended two group shoots with members from the University’s chapter of SCCC to learn about their position on guns, gun culture and concealed carry on campus. The first time I sat down to fire a gun, it jammed. ‘ ‘ ‘ A sudden nervousness overcame me, and my words, likewise, got caught in my throat. I looked over my shoulder at Sam Gupta, the leader of Pitt’s Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, for help. Gupta, a Pitt junior, said that .22 long rifles sometimes jam, but it was nothing to worry about. He watched me as I cocked the gun again and took off the safety. ‘Taking off the safety is the last thing you do. Remember, red means danger. So you can tell when it’s off,’ said Gupta. I felt tremors in my feet from people around me firing guns at the Wexford State Game Lands. Then I mustered up the strength to hold up the gun, aim at the paper bulls eye and fire. With every shot, I watched the sand fly off the mound behind the target, the missed bulls eye untouched. Shooting came easily to me, but I found shooting accurately to be more difficult than I had expected. Curiosity, and a little peer pressure, kept me going. Eventually, I graduated to shooting handguns and a variant of an AK-47. However, I couldn’t help but imagine a bullet flying back and taking out my eye. Can guns even do that? Apparently, it’s a non-issue. Secretary of the Pitcairn Monroeville Sportsmen’s Club Brian Cerra, also known as Bear, said that the obstructed gun could only misfire. ‘Guns jam. It happens. It happens a lot,’ said Cerra. ‘If you have a jam, as long as you keep it pointed in a safe direction, keep your finger out of the trigger guard until you can clear the jam, nothing bad is going to happen. If the gun goes off in that state, if you’re pointing in a safe direction, then you’re still fine. It won’t fire if it’s jammed.’ Cerra said that modern guns are tough and will outlive their buyers. ‘They’re generally built for multiple lifetimes of use. This gun, I have [shot] 25,000 rounds through this gun,’ he said. New kids on the Glock Though people may start shooting guns at an early age, only after a person turns 18 can he take on the responsibilities of owning a firearm. Pitt senior Colt Templin had a different upbringing after growing up around hunters. Templin, the event coordinator for SCCC, got ‘hooked’ on guns when he was 15 years old. ‘The first one I received, the Ruger 10/22, was a Christmas present when I was 18 years old,’ he said. ‘My family has always been very open with regard to firearms and shooting.’ Two months after he turned 21, Templin bought his first handgun, a Glock 19. Templin carries his concealed Glock almost everywhere he’s allowed. ‘I don’t always carry a firearm. I’m never armed when I go on campus, and I sometimes don’t carry my gun even when I’m not going to school. It all depends on where I’m going and how long I’ll be out,’ said Templin. Gupta, in contrast, did not have immediate family members who were interested in firearms. It was his uncle who introduced him to guns when he was about 8. Gupta’s uncle also took him out to the range when he was a teenager, but it wasn’t until he turned 18 and came to Pitt that he really got involved with guns and gun rights. That year, he decided to buy a gun to use in self-defense. Currently, Gupta owns a Romanian WASR 10 AK-47, a Ruger 10/22 and a shotgun for home defense. About every other week, Gupta goes to a shooting range to practice. He is awaiting his 21st birthday so he can attain a license to carry firearms and buy a handgun. Until then, he is working to register SCCC with Pitt’s Student Organization Resource Center and campaigning to change Pitt’s no-guns-on-campus policy. The group currently has 104 members. Like Gupta, Pitt junior Steve Walenchok was introduced to guns as a teenager.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I kind of got out of it for a couple of years and got back into it after I met a friend who was into it,’ said Walenchok. ‘I’ve got this old World War II gun from my grandpap, and I decided to clean it up and take care of it,’ said Walenchok. ‘It’s a piece of history.’ Walenchok shoots an original Mauser model 98 from Nazi Germany and a .22 rifle that he inherited from his grandfather, as well. For the last four months Walenchok has been going to the Sportsmen’s Club for its monthly group shoots to reacquaint himself with firearms. He said that he enjoys the shoots because everyone is friendly and helpful.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘I’m not afraid to ask questions,’ said Walenchok. ‘I’m not a spokesman for anything. I’m not an expert on anything. I am just kind of learning as I go from the people at the group shoots and the people on the forum.’ Girls with guns ‘Shoot like a girl … if you can’ is the challenging slogan that Remington Arms Company uses to attract women to buy its glam guns. Remington makes shotguns and rifles with pink-painted wood. Jennifer Colonna appreciates the touch of femininity that Remington put into her shotgun. ‘ ‘It’s a testosterone sport. There are a lot of men involved, but I can hang out with the guys. I have no problem doing that,’ said Colonna, who owns six handguns and five long guns. Colonna also doesn’t have a problem carrying a firearm now that she knows what to do. ‘I carry a smaller handgun than what a man would carry just because women are shaped differently, so we have a harder time. Our hips are a little higher than men’s. Men can pretty much put a gun anywhere and it’s concealed. Women have to go a little lower than men do,’ she said. Colonna considers herself to be an easy-going jeans and T-shirt girl, but if she had to dress up, she would make accommodations. However, she warns against carrying a gun in a purse because a purse can easily be stolen or forgotten somewhere. Obstacles of gun owners Richard Eastman, a chief range officer for the United States Practical Shooting Association, was anti-gun until 1990. ‘I just felt that if we didn’t have guns, if people didn’t carry, there would be fewer murders and things like that,’ said Eastman. ‘Then I had a couple friends that would go shooting, and I went shooting with them. One of them brought me out to an International Practical Shooting match, and I had such a blast.’ Eastman is a gun owner of an unusual make. He does not believe he has the right to kill an animal, and he does not carry a handgun for personal protection. He obtained a license to carry, even though he has no intention of carrying a firearm. ‘There is a law in Pennsylvania about transporting firearms, and for me to come to one of these shoots and bring a weapon with ammunition in the car, it used to be you’d have to put your gun and your ammo in the trunk. Otherwise, you’d be considered carrying a concealed weapon,’ he said. ‘So to avoid that and to avoid any problems, I got a carry permit.’ A major concern of gun owners, especially college-aged ones, is the rising cost of ammunition, said Gupta. ‘Every time I come to the range, I at least shoot about maybe $40 or $60 worth of ammo. Ammo prices are really up these days,’ he said. Cerra said that the prices of ammunition are up because of the increased component costs. ‘The price of the components has gone up because of the global market. There are conspiracy theorists that say the government is trying to keep us from shooting, but in reality, it’s the lead, copper, brass,’ said Cerra. Gun owners also have to deal with the stigma that is associated with wielding guns.’ ‘ ‘ ‘It’s such a divided thing, and I’m not sure why. It just seems like another sport to me,’ said Walenchok. ‘I think the responsible people should be viewed as more responsible, rather than gun-toting maniacs because they’re not. They’re not the people committing the crimes. If you heard of every time a plane landed safely, there wouldn’t be enough hours in a day on the news.’