Swanky Conservative

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Hundreds of colleges across the nation have purchased a training program that teaches professors and students not to take campus threats lying down but to fight back with any “improvised weapon,” from a backpack to a laptop computer. The program _ which includes a video showing a gunman opening fire in a packed classroom _ urges them to be ready to respond to a shooter by taking advantage of the inherent strength in numbers. It reflects a new response at colleges and universities where grisly memories of the campus shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University are still fresh. “Look at your environment through the lens of survival, said Domenick Brouillette, who administered the course at Metropolitan Community College, which serves more than 20,000 students. “Survivors prepare themselves both mentally and emotionally to do what it takes. It might involve life-threatening risk. You may do something you never thought you were capable of doing.”

Pay attention to the boldfaced sentence in the quote above. If Domenick Brouillette truly believed in the words she was saying, she would be out there advocating for universities to allow licensed concealed carry permit holders to carry their handguns on campus. (Maybe she is, if so, awesome.) Universities suffer from several psychoses, in my opinion, and one of them is this neo-fascistic tendency to believe it, as the role of the State, knows all that is best for those attending them, despite that in 9 times out of ten, those attending them are legal adults - once thought to be able to act and be treated as such.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, Universities tend to believe the mere presence of an armed licensed concealed carry permit holder is an evil thing which must be prevented at all cost. And these are supposed to be the Bastions of Reason and Keepers of the Flame of Knowledge? I think not. Here are some of Texas’ concealed carry permit eligibility requirements. See if any of these might strike you as alarming or may indicate the person carrying the concealed weapon might be an inherent danger to others:

• You must be 21 years of age at the time DPS receives the full application unless you are active duty military and at least 18 years old.
• You may NEVER have been convicted of violent crime felony, however you may have received deferred adjudication for some non-violent felony crimes (theft, auto theft, etc) and be eligible. You can NOT have been convicted of a Class A or B misdemeanor within the last 5 years.
• You may not have been convicted of the Class C misdemeanor “Disorderly Conduct” in the last 5 years.
• You may not have been found by a court to be in default on any student loan, however as long as you are making payments, even if you were in default, you will be eligible.
• You may not presently be charged with a: 1)Felony, 2)Class A or B misdemeanor, 3)Class C Disorderly Conduct.
• You may not be currently under a court protective order or subject to a restraining order affecting the spousal relationship, other than a restraining order solely affecting property interest.
• You may not (in the last 10 years preceding the date of application) have been adjudicated as having engaged in juvenile delinquent conduct violating a penal law of the grade of felony.
• You cannot be a fugitive from justice, a chemically dependent person, or a person of unsound mind.

The list of basic eligibility requirements automatically, by its nature, makes those who end up getting licensed to carry of sound mind and judgment and not someone who has a criminal past looking to shoot up the faculty lounge.

C’mon universities, show some of that higher intellect and rethink your unjustified and insulting fear of allowing licensed concealed carry permit holders to practice their right of self-protection on campus.