Let me tell you about some extraordinary people I know. One of them wanted to pick up some courses on teaching methodology at a local college, but she got an unwanted education in political science instead.
You see, tolerance on campus stops when academics have to be tolerant. Diversity of opinion and alternative solutions aren’t allowed if they diverge from the professors’ cherished beliefs. Liberal professors don’t like guns, so other people shouldn’t be allowed to have them. Then, these same college administrators hide behind sovereign immunity when another disarmed visitor is robbed, raped, or murdered on their campus. The problem isn’t that licensed gun owners are unsafe on campus or that students with carry permits are irresponsible. The “gun-free zone” on campus is about school administrators who are drunk on power. This is how it happened.
Say a military veteran came home. She settled down near her family. At first she worked part time at a local church and at a local school. It was a rural school district and it felt like the right place to put down roots in civilian life. After a while, the school even asked her to join the school security team. That was an honor she hadn’t expected. She hadn’t known that rural schools had a security team to protect the students and staff.
These things take time. The Sheriff screened her. She passed her FBI background checks and had a clean record. She went on to renew her concealed carry license. She also took a special course on emergency trauma care and on confronting a murderer on school campus. She did well. To graduate from her course, her scores had to exceed the state police qualification standards. Now, she carries in public and on campus where she works, but our story is only beginning.
This same veteran wanted to take some night courses at her local college. That is when she found out she couldn’t carry on their campus. She’s glad she checked.
Now you’re probably thinking she was told that she can’t be part of the college security team.and you’d be wrong. She was told that she can go armed almost everywhere else in her state, but not on her college campus. That isn’t what she was expecting at all.
When she was looking for a school, the local college said they wanted older students to come back and finish their degrees. The local college said students at this campus were mature and they took their education seriously. But maybe not.
This experienced military veteran was told that all college students should be disarmed because they are probably immature drunks and druggies who are borderline crazy. That is what faculty representatives said. That is what they said when they testified against allowing licensed carriers over 21 years of age to carry on campus.
She was told one thing about the college when the school administration wanted her money, and then told the opposite thing when she wanted to protect herself as she walked to her car late at night across campus.
She’d read the local police reports about students robbed on and near campus. It isn’t as if the “no-guns on campus” signs disarmed the criminals. These laws only disarmed honest people like her.
She’d seen the world. She was the responsible one, and these academics were acting like spoiled adolescents. That is where my story ends and yours begins.
Here is my hint for those looking at colleges. Look at what the school says about the mature intellectual life on campus, but don’t stop there. Before you make a decision, look at what the administrators actually do to control students and subject them to arbitrary regulations. Fortunately, you have options. Not all colleges are the same.
Too often, there is no freedom of expression on campus except in a “free speech zone”. There is no right of self-defense on campus. The professors say women are victimized by rape on campus, but they won’t let women go armed for self-defense. Often, students can’t even carry pepper spray in their purses!
This young woman was trusted enough to protect our children when she teaches in the morning, but she wasn’t trusted enough to protect herself when she is a student late at night. That is crazy. Unfortunately, she isn’t alone. A similar story is played out thousands of times every day.
Academics say one thing and do another. That is the very definition of hypocrisy and intellectual dishonesty. Think about that when you choose your college. Think about it when you choose your legislators who turn your campus into a “gun-free zone”.
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