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« pnc0002 wrote on Wednesday, Sep 22 at 10:28 AM »
First, conceal carry is a very big responsibility and should not be something that everyone should necessarily take upon themselves. Before you even consider getting a conceal carry permit, you should do the following things: 1. You should pick out a handgun that is comfortable in your hands with a good weight to reduce kickback depending on your size and strength. 2. You should put at least 1,000 rounds through the gun you've selected to ensure proper break-in, find the rounds that you desire and ensure that they will feed properly and perform a run-and-gun. A run-and-gun is a high-paced shooting practice that will condition you to be a better shot and have the ability to think more clearly under stressful situations. 3. You should also find a comfortable and easily accessible concealed holster and practice your draw while at the shooting range. 4. As soon as you strap on that gun, you now have the ultimate responsibility to keep peace. Because you have the most destructive power, it is your job to be the most peaceful and defuse situations which might merit intervention with a fire arm. A GUN IS YOUR LAST RESORT. In regards to the author of this article: No one is a professional shooter (exempting competition shooters of course); not even the police. Police are merely the ones we pay to wield guns and actively practice the steps that I have outlined. Preservation of all human life should be the number one thought on your mind and in some extreme circumstances, producing a fire arm is the only way to preserve the lives of the innocent. I end with a haunting quote:

In January 2006, prior to the shootings, legislator Todd Gilbert had introduced a related bill into the Virginia House of Delegates. The bill, HB 1572, was intended to forbid public universities in Virginia from preventing students from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun on campus. The university opposed the bill, which quickly died in subcommittee. Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker praised the defeat of the bill, stating, "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus."
« CollegeStudent4582 wrote on Saturday, Sep 18 at 12:47 PM »
"Concealed carry on campus wouldn’t necessarily make for a safer student body, just a more paranoid one."

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. It is because I am significantly less paranoid when I open carry. Open carry of a handgun is a flat-out deterrent to crime and ninety different kinds of cattle manure that occurs in every day life. The last occasion I had to carry my firearm concealed, I was a mark for an easy snatch and grab at a gas station. Without my gun on my side, I was left with only two choices: Remain paranoid and wait for the other person to flinch or move in some manner that was appropriately threatening to use the firearm, or try to convince that person to step away from my car without taking it or its contents. A concealed firearm is not a deterrent of any sort; it is merely an absolutely last grasp at self-defense when a mortal threat has been made. A person carrying a concealed firearm presents no outward signs of being a threat to a would-be mugger, robber, or rapist any more than any other person walking down the street without a firearm. However, a person openly carrying a handgun, in a proper holster, gives anyone pause, only because our society is so used to the image that Hollywood has sold us that anyone (criminal, cop, kid, parent, or loner) will use a gun for the wrong purpose given a chance. People don't have any concern with cops running around with guns openly, or armored car personnel, despite the fact that the former is a state peace officer and the latter isn't. And yet the idea of a lawfully armed citizen walking around scares so many. Why is that? Is it because every time there is a story in the news about guns, it involves the misuse of firearms? Is it because of the video of the DEA Agent, proclaiming himself to be a firearms professional, negligently discharges a loaded firearm in a classroom full of students? Is it because anyone lawfully, legally carrying a firearm is mocked in the media? Or does the reason sit even deep in the psyche of so many who possess an abject fear of a firearm because it makes a really loud noise when you pull the trigger, and produces a magic-like destructive power? Our forefathers, who brought forth this great country on this continent and a few islands, were intimately familiar with firearms. Without firearms, the United States Of American would not exist and we would all be subjects of the United Kingdom. But I digress. Concealed carry of a handgun is absolutely useless against crime unless another person has already created a situation so dangerous that it justifies killing another person to remove one's self from the encounter. It is only through open carry of firearms that crime can truly be deterred. It won't stop all crime, because there are the criminally insane in the world just as in comic books -- but it will prevent some crimes of opportunity. The price for liberty is eternal vigilance. The price of true security may be negotiated at your nearest firearms dealer.
« whindsoull wrote on Thursday, Sep 16 at 03:12 PM »
It's unnecessary to work in the theoretical here--worrying about what might, hypothetically, happen. Concealed carry is allowed in 48 states, and is not a recent development. Because of this, we have a substantial body of data to show its effects.

Allow me to address each of the objections you bring up. Citations are at the bottom.

--"Consider trying to take steady aim while under fire, your classmates shrieking and fleeing madly."

About 11% of police shootings kill an innocent person - about 2% of shootings by citizens kill an innocent person. The odds of a defensive gun user killing an innocent person are less than 1 in 26,000. And that is with citizens using guns to prevent crimes almost 2,500,000 times every year.[1]

--"Increased weapons would only add to the confusion and perhaps lead to the wrong person being injured or even killed."

Less than 1% of all gun homicides involve innocent bystanders.[2]

--"Perhaps it’s naïve and unrealistic to say a shooting on the level of Virginia Tech or Columbine wouldn’t or couldn’t happen at Auburn, but allowing guns on campus to try to combat outlier situations, situations which are difficult to predict and hard to prevent, seems like poor logic."

Actually, disallowing guns on campus makes a mass shooting situation much more likely to occur. It has been shown that multiple victim public shootings drop in states that pass shall-issue concealed-carry legislation.[3] Between 1977 and 1995, the average death rate from mass shootings plummeted by up to 91% after such laws went into effect, and injuries dropped by over 80%.[4]

--"The point is most likely moot, as no one should know you’re carrying a concealed weapon, because, as the name implies, it is concealed."

Now there is something we can agree on.

Citations:

1: Shall Issue: The New Wave of Concealed Handgun Permit Laws, C. Cramer, and D. Kopel,

Independence Institute Issue Paper. October 17, 1994

2: Stray bullets and ‘mushrooms’, Sherman, Steele, Laufersweiler, Hoffer and Julian, Journal of

Quantitative Criminology, 1989

3: Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handgun Laws:

Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, Lott John R., Landes William M.; University of

Chicago – covers years 1977 to 1995

4: Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handgun Laws:

Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement, John Lott and William Landes, Law School of the

University of Chicago, Law & Economics Working Paper No. 73