The gun lobby is flirting with self-parody as it exploits the issue of sexual assaults on college campuses by proposing a solution of — what else? — having students carry guns. Experts who study the complicated issue of predatory behavior and advise colleges point out that rapes often begin in social situations. “It would be nearly impossible to run for a gun,” said John Foubert, the national president of One in Four, a rape-prevention organization.
Such common sense, however, has never deterred statehouse politicians when it comes to obeying the gun lobby. Lawmakers in 10 states are busy adapting the issue of campus sexual assaults to the campaign to arm college students. Carrying concealed weapons on college campuses is now banned in 41 states by law or university policy.
The debate has been far from enlightening. Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, the sponsor of a Nevada campus gun bill, said in an interview with The Times that “these young, hot little girls on campus” would be far safer if they could brandish a weapon and make sure “these sexual predators get a bullet in their head.”
In Colorado, North Dakota and Wyoming, legislators are working to allow adults to carry firearms in schools, starting in kindergarten. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, who had endorsed leaving the issue in the hands of university administrators, has decided he will sign any of the campus-carry bills rushing toward passage, even if universities cannot opt out. A Kansas bill would scrap the requirement for a state permit, so any “law abiding” citizen could carry a concealed weapon anywhere.
In Florida, the Legislature has a bill legalizing concealed carry on the 12 state university campuses, despite considerable opposition from students, professors, administrators and police officials. The Montana Senate has approved a campus gun bill dealing with such fine print as whether roommates can veto a student’s gun possession.
As the debate goes forward, legislators would be wise to resort to some facts and consider a new study, based on federal data, by the Violence Policy Center. It strongly suggests that states with weak gun-safety laws and high rates of gun ownership lead the nation in gun deaths.
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