Dear Editor:
We are writing this in response to Kenneth McDonald’s letter in the Nov. 1 edition of the East Tennessean. McDonald missed the point of our Oct. 22 protest. Yes, we do want the State of Tennessee to change the law to allow Licensed Handgun Carry Permit (HCP) holders to carry their weapons on school property. We do not, however, seek to become a SWAT team for the university.
First of all, a Virginia Tech-style “crazed gunman on a shooting spree” is only one concern that we have. We want individuals to be able to protect themselves from any crime that would bring them death or serious bodily injury.
We believe that students should not have to worry about being assaulted, robbed, or raped on campus when they would otherwise be able to defend themselves if they were off campus.
If a gunman was roaming the ETSU campus, the last thing the HCP holders would do would be “whipping out their pistols” and “prowling the vicinity of the shooting.”
Concealed Carry is about self defense, not vigilante justice. In a situation such as Virginia Tech, Columbine or the Luby’s massacre in Texas, advanced close quarters battle techniques are not needed because the killers moved slowly and methodically executing their helpless victims.
We simply believe that we have the right to defend ourselves if we are faced with an imminent danger to ourselves or those around us.
As to the issue of police meeting with armed civilians, police are trained to expect armed “good guys” such as HCP holders or plain clothes law enforcement at a crime scene.
Concerns about individuals who are upset or in an argument would just turn to guns as a way to settle a dispute have been expressed. These concerns were expressed when states started issuing carry permits. These concerns were discovered to be invalid.
In fact, after Florida passed carry permit legislation in 1987, its homicide rated dropped faster than the national average. In the 10 years from 1987 to 1997, out of 350,000 permits issued, only one permit holder was convicted of homicide (Source Kleck, Gary Targeting Guns: Firearms and Their Control, p 370. Walter de Gruyter, Inc., New York, 1997).
Remember, we are only asking that licensed handgun carry permit holders be allowed to carry on campus.
There is no significant difference between the other places we are currently allowed to carry and campus.
We are adults. We do not become less responsible once we step on campus.
-Jay Adkins, ETSU Marksmanship Club

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