Gun Totin' Students?

With all due respect to those who have already weigned-in on Louisiana House Bill 199, I think another perspective is needed—a college faculty perspective (and maybe even staff). Now, I would not for a moment assume that I speak for the masses of faculty and staff. However, I am certain that there are others who share the same or similar views.

House Bill 199 is a piece of legislation that would allow persons holding handgun permits to conceal and carry those weapons on college campuses. If passed, this legislation could assist in setting nationwide precedence. What does this means for our colleges and universities?

Let me paint a picture. As members of the faculty, we are charged with imparting knowledge to students from our respective subject areas. In doing so, it requires us to employ new and existing measures to evaluate students’ understanding and comprehension of what we present. Students oftentimes disagree with faculty on how they have been evaluated and/or the outcome of those evaluations. These disagreements are perfectly acceptable. Part of the college hidden curriculum, particularly in sociology, is to prepare students to ask questions and question the answers. As we have too often seen, some students have misunderstood the premise of this curriculum.

I encourage all of my students to ask questions and when they disagree with my methodologies, they are free to consult others that may assist them in coming to some resolution, such as the chair of the department. Members of the faculty are frequently considered gatekeepers to student success in individual classrooms. Quite honestly, there are only minimal amounts of truth in that. We are awarded certain rights under academic freedom, but students have rights just as faculty. When we employ these various methods of assessing student performance, academic freedom does not require us to bend and break because students disagree.

Having said that, the mere idea of students concealing weapons is far from the bounds of my imagination, especially considering the somewhat hostile environment created on many college campuses. I would not want my safety or the safety of other students threatened. The fact is we work with diverse groups of students with diverse personal issues—we never know what troubles students face throughout the day translating into baggage that is oftentimes brought into the classroom. Their troubles could stem from home, problems with roommates, or even a simple difference of opinion with other students during class discussions. The suggestion is not that all students who face problems are those with handguns. However, how are we to know differently? Likewise, what assurances do we have that “permission slips” to carry handguns will protect us from inappropriate and improper use of these weapons. In this case, should we as faculty carry guns as well?

If we checked the case files of many of recorded school shootings in Louisiana and around the country, we would find that many of the culprits of these violent acts showed little to no evidence of an aggressive past. In fact, some of the offenders excelled academically.

To suggest that violence on college campuses in the past is the result of guns being in the wrong hands is an utter devaluation of the problem. Why would we add guns on campuses rather than doing actively enforcing preexisting policies? Coupled with that, there are trained and sworn officers on campuses with the legal rights to carry guns. Not only are they be charged with protecting the campus and its constituencies, they would potentially face situations resembling the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. © 2008 Keydron Guinn