As a concealed-weapons permit holder and admitted UF law student, I couldn't help but shake my head at Monday's Alligator editorial "Guns have no place on college campuses," in which the question was posed, "Who is to say that if passed, these bills won't lead to coeds pulling guns on their significant other over a minor disagreement or professors feeling unsafe in their own classrooms?"
Do we really have to premise the debate on already-disproved grounds?
When Florida passed "right to carry" legislation in 1987, the same predictions were made. "Blood will run in the streets, permit holders will just 'snap' during minor arguments," we were told. Despite these apocalyptic warnings, Armageddon never happened.
Today, one in 37 adult Floridians is licensed to carry a firearm, and studies analyzing the 22 years that Florida has been issuing permits have repeatedly found such conclusions as "Florida permit holders are 300 times less likely than the general population to commit a crime (Hoover Institution, Stanford University)" and "157 out of 1,104,468 permits (0.014 percent) have been revoked due to firearms-related violations (FL Dept. of State, 2005)"?
My question to the Editorial Board is given the proven track record of Florida permit holders, what makes a permit holder somehow more dangerous on campus than at, say, Wal-Mart?
Does crossing an imaginary line magically transform him into a killer?
If concealed carry makes you shudder, perhaps you shouldn't go to Wal-Mart. Chances are you'll pass one of the 3 percent who are packing heat.
