I am an advocate of self-defense.
Proper self-defense and situational awareness are imperative when defending yourself, whether you're dodging a punch, a knife or a car.
But then there are guns.
I'm not a fan of guns. I am not completely comfortable around them, and I wish they were never invented.
Guns are the great equalizer. Once, an enraged man weighing over 230 pounds of sheer muscle would have been insurmountable to the average woman. Now, with the use of a firearm, the tables can easily turn in the woman's favor with the pull of a trigger and a quarter-ounce of lead.
Guns have made physical strength irrelevant and turn brave men cowards when staring down its barrel.
And the way I see it, we need to know how to defend ourselves from the people behind them.
A Kevlar or carbon fiber vest only covers a person's torso. Having some firearm training myself, I can tell you hitting a target the size of a small watermelon at 15 yards is relatively easy.
Being generous, an attacker would have a minimum of seven bullets, which means they have seven chances to hit that watermelon.
A person could run. In a setting such as Auburn University, the density of the crowd would put the odds of escaping unharmed in a person's favor. Unfortunately, chances are someone will be hit.
For some, none of these options are agreeable. For some, gambling with chance is not an option. For some, the best option for protecting one's life, and the lives of those around them, would be to use offense as a form of self-defense. Namely, a gun.
However, Auburn University is a gun-free campus.
The University complies with Senate Bill 286, which states employees may keep properly secured firearms inside their car at their work. However, employers may still choose to ban guns within the business itself.
Auburn University complies with this law and chooses to restrict guns inside its buildings. They are within their right to do so.
It is the case, however, the University's department of public safety has provided students and faculty with a gun locker to store their guns while they remain on campus. With proper identification, an individual may store their weapon on campus.
But what's the point?
All this would be fine with me if we lived in a world where every person followed the rules agreed upon by society. If an individual intends to break the cardinal rule of society, to not take the life of another human, they would most certainly not follow its other rules.
Storing guns in a locker, away from arms reach, defeats the purpose of owning a firearm for self-defense.
Are all gun owners to rush to the public safety's gun locker in the event of an attack? Heaven forbid the assailants begin their assault at the locker itself.
The locker is not for our benefit. It is a form of appeasement, a compromise, which achieves nothing other than to hush the outcries of a fraction of citizens. The University passively smothers the voice and opinions of the dissenting group with this amenity.
In providing students and faculty with a gun locker, the University has done nothing at all.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
