EDITORIAL – Conceal and carry

If the tragic shootings at Northern Illinois and Virginia Tech Universities have taught us… If the tragic shootings at Northern Illinois and Virginia Tech Universities have taught us anything, it’s that these lone-gunman, college-campus massacres are difficult – if not impossible – to prevent. Universities can adopt more rigorous emergency notification systems and implement more channels for students to seek counseling, but unfortunately, college campus shootings are random and virtually unpreventable.

This tragic inevitability has motivated students from colleges across the country to form the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, which would like to see greater numbers of colleges across the country adopt policies that would allow students with gun licenses to carry concealed weapons on campus. The idea is that if a violent situation would occur, students carrying concealed handguns could help protect their peers. The organization, which is supported by a global-network Facebook group with more than 19,000 members, boasts representation from colleges throughout the country, including Pitt.

Under state law, the possession of concealed weapons is allowed in many public places, including shopping malls, movie theaters, churches and offices. Pitt’s current student code of conduct prohibits students from carrying firearms on University property without University authorization.

To many of us, the initial idea of allowing our peers to carry weapons on campus and into classes is unnerving. How are we sure that a student carrying a handgun is capable of bringing down a shooter? Could shooting crossfire ultimately cause more injuries? Could the presence of firearms on campus result in accidental shootings? All of these questions are variables, hypotheticals we can’t answer, because the shootings themselves are variable and unpredictable.

What we do know is that in the event of a shooting, a student carrying a concealed weapon might able to help protect his peers. And in the event of a campus emergency, the “might” could be enough. It won’t necessarily be fool-proof, and granting the privilege to carry concealed weapons on campus won’t guarantee that one of these students will be in the right place at the right time if a shooting occurs. But it could hasten the response to a shooting, preventing the gunman from continuing on a shooting rampage.

Allowing students to carry concealed weapons isn’t something Pitt – or any university – should take lightly. If Pitt would decide to change its policy, we would urge the University to require students interested in carrying concealed weapons to submit to a lengthy application period and background checks, as well as to implement a zero-tolerance policy that would take away students’ rights if they engaged in any illegal behavior resulting in arrest or citation.

To be clear, allowing students to carry concealed weapons isn’t the sole answer to responding to campus shootings. It’s inappropriate and impossible to rely on students to be the first responders. The emergency-alert system has proven effective in notifying students of an incident, but it isn’t enough. The University needs to strengthen its security measures by putting more police officers in campus buildings, creating a campus lockdown system and continuing practices that allow mentally troubled students to seek help. There’s no single answer to prevent these tragic shootings, but that doesn’t excuse us from conversations as to how they can be minimized.