The American Spectator

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Tiffany Pickett is a student at Westminster College in Utah. She said she owns a firearm and has a concealed carry permit. Because Westminster is a private college, it does not have to follow state mandates. Westminster does not allow concealed carry on campus but that doesn't prevent Pickett from trying to change regulations at her school.

Pickett said she thinks that allowing concealed carry on campus will make people think twice about committing acts of violence. "At Virginia Tech, out of the 32 killed, 20 were over the age of 21 and may have qualified for a concealed weapon permit. If that many would have been carrying [a weapon] do you think 32 people would be dead right now? Probably not," she said.

Jim Manley, also a campus representative for SCCC, attends the University of Colorado at Boulder. He argues that gun bans offer the "illusion of safety," which people find "comforting" right up until "a tragedy like Virginia Tech shatters the illusion."

AND THEN WHAT? "The question going forward," said Manley, "is whether we will rebuild the illusion with more gun control, or endeavor to create schools that are actually safer by allowing law-abiding guns owners to carry on campus."

Advocates of concealed carry on campus aren't trying to re-create the Wild West. Rather, they insist that they are merely trying to make their colleges less vulnerable to violent rampages. "The perpetrators of mass shootings do not respect 'gun-free' zones any more than they respect human life," Manley reminded. So: "Banning concealed carry on campus effectively bans self-defense."

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