1. could lives
Students guns
with save
BYMATTHEW THOMAS CORNWALT
f 'm a iunior at the UniversitY
I of Washingtonin Seattle.I
Ia l so pos s es s c o n c e a l e d
a
weapons permit and own a
registered handgun.
"Wittt
the tragedYat Virginia
Techand NorthernIllinois Uni-
versitvstill freshin mYhead, can- I
not hblp but feelthe needto Pro-
tect mvself.
Seung-HuiCho succeeded in
his missionto kill asmanyPeoPle
ashq possiblycould - 33 to be ex-
act,including himself. i.*+r,:].,.
He underitood that he would .'#
'l'
bethe only stu{entwith agun and :'
' ,,.;: a4:;
that he had PlentYof time to act
before the police
wereto amve.
Let ' s s & V, i n
hindsight,that stu-
dentshad beenal-
lowedtocarrycon-
cealed weapons on
campus.
Comwall If Cho had been
fullY awarethat he
wouldn't be the onlYstudentwith
a sun, would he havechosen to
u.Ttwouldthis havebeen enough
to preventthe deaths 32 inno-
of
and
centstudents Professors last
April?
The UniversitYof Washin$on
send e-mailsto studentsletting
them know whenevera violent . ,,'&r
near
crimetakesPlace anYwhere
thecampus. muchasthisis aP-
As ff:t' '.I.
ri;ra.*,!$i(*ii'i
'+:n"J
ffii$ifi l,
preciated, does
it nothingtodeter i. ;r{loTl...".r,gi.,"
it ..' -ir -hrr'
br prevent these actsof crimefrom l.+.'tj
l.'
takingplace.
In April a weeklong Protest
calledthe EmPtYHolster Protest
took placeon campuq. This wa,s
an attemPtto urge unlverslty oI-
ficialsto changethe current laws
forbiddingstudents carry even
to
iicensedweapons on campus.
Nothingchanged.
I like to sPendmY after-class AIAN KIM/The (Va.) file
Roanoke Times
hours in the-library reading and gunmanbramPatein April
doing research.I usuallY.dol't An injured woman is pulled from a buitdingat virginia Techfollowing l
leavJthelibrary until 1 or 2 in the 2007.university of washin$on students would like to carry concealedweaPonsto protect
morning, andwhenI do it'sa one-
mile wJik home in the dark. If I By not protectingourselves we
lowedto? Couldn'tbecause its of LegalStudies.
own a registeredhandgun and because feelthe
we are enablingcriminals.
possessconcealed weaPons policyon weapons? Flowever,
a Per- ' Is the Universityof Washin$on
If ; studentcarrlnnga licensed needto protectourseives are we
mit, I shouldhavethe rightto Pro- right-wing willing to empowerits students in
weaponhad stoPPed Seung-F{ui viewedas gun-toting,
tect myselfasI seefit' couldn'tbe order to preventanother massa-
Cho;skilling spree, would the stu- nuts.This assumPtion
Letis say,hYPotheticallY, I that
crelike Columbine, Virginia Tech
getshot and roUUed afterleaving dent carrying the handgun be further from the truth'
punished heralded a hero?
or as Criminals successfullY attack or Northern lllinois? Or its lead-
Ihe libtary early one moming. I - erswillirrg to gambletheir reputa-
Violentcrimesinvolvingguns citizensbecausemany of them
could have ProtectedmYselfb-ut and tion on ihe ignorance of their
the are rarelycarriedout bYrespon- refuseto protectthemselves
was unableto do so because trust?
gun
sibleregistered owners. easilygivb in to a criminai'sde-
University of Washington does
In fact, concealedweapons mands.
not allowweapons campus.on
citizens Cornwalla
MatthewThomas is
accePt the permit holdersare five timesless If more responsible
Wouldthe universitY gnduate.
Puyallup School
High
iit ety to commit a gun-related were to carry handguns, would
it
blame,knowing that I could have
crim-e, accordingto the Joumalof lower crime ratesdrasticallY.
protected mYselfbut wasn't al-