The day my students are allowed to bring guns to class is the day I quit.
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At Weber State University in Utah where students can carry concealed weapons, professor Ron Holt said a weapon provides added protection from potential gunmen. “I see carrying a concealed firearm as a kind of life insurance policy; 99.99 times you will never need it,” he said.
So about once every other semester, then.
You can read more about Mr. Holt here. I guess he’s part of a group of social scientists traveling with the US military to help prevent cultural misunderstandings in war zones. They’re in Afghanistan and Iraq. These folks have a blog. You can see a NYTimes video about them here and an article here.
I wonder what sociologists are involved? How come I didn’t know about this? The American Anthropological Association has come out with a resolution against such human terrain teams.
A student once dropped his gun in my class. It rolled out into the aisle. I did not see it but other students did and later called campus police. Campus police called me just before my next meeting of that class to tell me about it. They did not know the student’s name but had a description of “about where he sat.”
I went to the cop shop to discuss it. They wanted me to “take him out,” whatever that meant. I replied that they should be the ones to remove and talk to him. One cop shot back, “Nine times out of ten it is no problem.” “Not good enough,” I replied. “I’m a .05 kind of guy, but .0001 in situations like this.”
The police removed him from the class and we all met in the hallway. The young male student was wearing a t-shirt and had the gun stuck in the back of his pants with t-shirt pulled over it. He was a political science “wannabe” cop and did have a gun permit. Police told him it was illegal to have guns on campus but if he would just leave it in the car from now on that would be OK. I didn’t really like that answer but I wasn’t about to go nuts in front of three men packing heat.
The young man came to a few more classes but would get up and leave in the middle. Finally, he quit coming.
Man, I feel the same way you do, shaka.
I’ve talked with my students about the issue of being armed in the classroom and have noticed a big change in attitudes since the VT incident. I think that event altered the way this generation of students thinks about their campus communities.
Exactly what is preventing a student from bringing a gun to class today? Nothing. So the whether or not its ‘allowed’ by some arbitrary policy is not relevant is it? I can honestly say I don’t understand the emotional reaction guns cause in people.
Back in college, when I was a resident assistant, one of my students shot himself in the neck with a Glock that he’d snuck into the dorm. He did it in a moment of uber-drunken melancholy, as far as anyone could tell - there had been none of the usual warning signs or “less determined to succeed” attempts. His aim was off, though, so now he’s a quadriplegic.
I mean, really, on what planet does making firearms easily available to a group of binge drinking late adolescents constitute a good idea? I see no reason to think that the stats about the rate of suicides/family member shootings vs. heroic burglary and home-invasion thwartings will be all that different on a college campus.
So, I guess in response to #5:
Clearly, our “no guns in the dorm” policy wasn’t foolproof - no policy ever is - but it did have some effect. We confiscated guns (and on one memorable occasion, razor-sharp hunting arrows and a compound bow) and, in general, people didn’t break that rule because the penalties were pretty stiff and getting caught did happen. So I guess what the policy did was ensure that there were less guns lying around for misuse/accidents overall.
And overall, I think the evidence is pretty good that it’s much more likely that a person’s gun will shoot themselves, or someone they live with, I think, than a crazed lone whacko aiming to knock off their Econ class.
#5: You’re right. It’s impossible to know if students are covertly bringing guns to class. I don’t disagree with this point.
However, I do take issue with regards to your second comment: “I can honestly say I don’t understand the emotional reaction guns cause in people.” Really? You don’t understand? Because I can explain quite clearly why they cause an emotional reaction. Their presence on a college campus would be for the exclusive purpose of killing people. Guns are capable of killing numerous people really quickly. Several statistically rare, but dramatic examples have shown that the presence of guns on campuses can have fatal consequences (fists, less so). I have a strong preference to continue living. Ergo, I have a very strong emotional reaction to the idea that a people-killing tool might be in my immediate presence. Is it still so confusing?
Yeah there’s a big movement on my campus about this one. The stereotype about Texans and their guns is not unfounded. People here want to be able to carry their guns, and the recent school incidents have put a fire under the idea of wanting to bring them to school.
I really don’t want students to be the one to make the call about whether or not to whip out the “people-killing tool,” as andrewska puts it above. When I started seeing fliers with big guns on them around campus, I got pretty emotional about it myself. If it really does become an issue I will fight against it.
The learning environment can be an emotional one, especially in sociology classrooms where we talk about race, gender, religion, and any number of other controversial issues. Students who are paying attention get their minds blown once in a while, but other students just hear buzz words and get angry.
@5: You have to admit that laws and rules do have a deterring effect. It is not currently socially acceptable to bring a gun to school, because there are strict rules against it. If those rules go away, it would be a very public matter, and I think students would bring guns just because they can (for a while at least). Especially in the country’s midsection where people are more used to having guns around.
I agree re: the emotional learning environment. And let’s not forget exam/stress freakouts - a couple years back we had a student take a swing at a professor who told her “pencils down”. Luckily, the student sitting next to Punchy leapt in and stopped the punch right before the Prof got clocked. It was pretty chaotic, so I heard. Now imagine that scenario again with guns instead of fists.
Also: looking back at my earlier comment I think I should specify that I wasn’t referring to *all* college students as binge-drinkers. Just, I guess, about 40-50% of them, if that Harvard study is to be believed.