concealedcampus.org

TUSCON, January 11 – Gun control critics are once again exploiting the dead to trumpet their own political agenda.

Hours after the Tuscon shooting spree that left 6 dead, 13 wounded and a US Congresswoman fighting for her life, local officials in Arizona are callously twisting a national tragedy to their own ends, making emotional arguments against state legislation which actually enhances the ability of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves

Pima County Democratic Party Chairman Jeff Rogers used a CNN interview on Saturday to slam a bill allowing lawful concealed carry on campus, calling such an idea “crazy” in light of the shooting. In a press conference on Sunday, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik called the bill “ridiculous.” Then Brady Campaign spokesman Paul Helmke took to the airwaves to decry the ease of obtaining firearms in the US.

Now Students for Concealed Carry, the leading voice for self defense rights on college campuses, is firing back.

“What these guys are saying doesn’t even match the facts of the case,” said David Burnett, president and spokesman for the group. “Our bill has nothing to do with college drop-outs who can’t even pass an army drug test. It’s about allowing professors, ROTC cadets or anyone that has a concealed carry permit to be armed for their own protection.”

Records indicate that the Tuscon shooting suspect attended college in 2010, engaging in outbursts and rants that unnerved other classmates.

According to the Washington Post, one classmate wrote “Needless to say, I sit by the door. … [The suspect] is one of those whose picture you see on the news, after he has come into class with an automatic weapon.” The suspect eventually dropped out of school.

Reports also indicate the suspect cleared the FBI criminal check required by the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act prior to a firearm purchase. Failing the check requires a person to have been declared mentally defective or committed to a mental institution.

“This is exactly what we need to protect against,” said Burnett. “The suspect showed warning signs, but no one followed up on them, and there’s no law against being creepy. If anything needs changing, it’s the laws about mental illness, not guns.

“Until we have a way of finding and stopping every deranged killer, we can’t forbid citizens from protecting themselves.”

CONTACT:
David Burnett
Director of Public Relations
Students for Concealed Carry

Once again, Colorado is the scene for one of the next steps in the fight to restore the right to self-defense on campus, as once again one of their flagship universities turns to the courts to validate its defiance of state law.

The University of Colorado (CU) is being sued by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) for its refusal to comply with the state law passed in 2002 which restricts entities that can prohibit concealed carry.

The university board of regents still asserts their right to enact campus-wide bans on concealed carry, despite its absence on the list of approved self-defense regulators.

In December 2008, SCCC in conjunction with the Mountain States Legal Foundation sued CU for violating Colorado law. The court dismissed the lawsuit, but an appeal quickly brought victory. The CU Board of Regents voted to appeal.

On Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed to grant a writ of certiorari to CU in their appeal.

At issue, states the court, is:

Whether the General Assembly intended the Concealed Carry Act to divest the Board of Regents of its constitutional and statutory authority to enact safety and welfare measures for the University of Colorado’s campuses.

Whether a constitutional challenge to a statute or ordinance regulating the right to bear arms is governed by the deferential “rational basis” standard of review or a more stringent “reasonable exercise” standard of review.

Gun control advocate Paul Helmke issued a statement, saying “We urge the Court to allow the University of Colorado to continue to protect student safety by prohibiting armed students and visitors.”

Oddly enough, safety appears to be the last thing on the minds of Paul Helmke or the CU board of regents; crime at CU has risen 35 percent in the past four years under CU’s gun ban, while crime at nearby Colorado State University has dropped 60 percent in the same time frame. (CSU has allowed concealed carry by licensed individuals since 2003 without incident.)

“Gun control advocates stubbornly stick to their theory that paper and ink on the doors will prevent crime,” stated SCCC President David Burnett. “While they desperately pursue validation from higher courts, 14 other colleges have recognized that the fear of encountering armed resistance repels criminals far better than stickers. At best, the anti-defense advocates will be taking one step forward and 14 steps back.”

SCCC advocates only those citizens already possessing the credentials be allowed to carry a concealed weapon to carry on campus for self-protection.

For media inquiries, please contact David Burnett or in Colorado, contact Jim Manley.

The University of Texas was shut down on Tuesday after shots were fired inside the university library. Witnesses report as many as ten shots being fired, and possibly more than one suspect, although police confirmed that at least one gunman was dead of a self-inflicted gunshot. Classes were canceled and the school was put on lockdown. Police are searching for a possible second perpetrator. No other injuries were reported.

In 1966, 44 years ago, a gunman opened fire on students at the University of Texas. At the time, civilians with hunting rifles were able to return fire and confine the shooter until police could respond.

Today’s shooting is ironic in light of the fact that noted researcher Dr. John Lott was scheduled to present a talk at the university regarding the positive effects of concealed carry on campus.

Once again, the state of utter vulnerability, and futility of unenforced gun bans is showcased by a shooting situation. Fortunately in this case, no other victims were reported. Let’s hope the next shooting is just as “safe” as this one.

For media inquiries, please contact David Burnett or Daniel Crocker.

Late-night studying sessions? Pre-date coffee shop sittings? A quiet nook to do some writing? Nothing like a little Starbucks coffee to fit the bill, and Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is going to help you pay for that bill. All next week, when you subscriber to the newsletter for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, you’ll be eligible to win a $25 gift card from Starbucks® coffee!*

But that’s just the first prize. One lucky winner gets the grand prize…a free membership to the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network! An $85 value, the ACLDN is an insurance company of sorts for armed citizens. They provide information, training, consultation and a newsletter for armed citizens. In the event you are involved in a self-defense situation, they provide $5,000 for legal assistance, as well as access to additional grants and networking with attorneys and legal experts across the United States.

Not only are subscribers eligible, but as you return to school, this will be an excellent tool for recruiting other students! Grab a sign and an e-mail sign-up sheet and hit the sidewalks to gather more supporters to the cause!

Click here to download a copy of the contest rules.

*Legal disclaimer: This contest is open to legal US residents age 18 and older, and is void where prohibited. Starbucks® is a registered trademark of Starbucks U.S. Brand LLC. Starbucks Corporation and its related affiliates and subsidiaries are in no way related to or associated with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

In 2002, the Secret Service released a report on school shootings in the United States. The project, part of their Safe School Initiative, studied 37 incidents in 28 years, and among their key findings, noted that: “incidents of targeted violence at school rarely are sudden, impulsive acts” – that is, even killers didn’t “just snap” – and that only some of the shootings were preventable. (Click here to read the Secret Service report.)

Sadly, in the eight years since the Safe School Initiative was released, America witnessed multiple campus shootings at places such as Virginia Tech, prompting Campus Attacks: Targeted Violence Affecting Institutions of Higher Education, another more comprehensive report on crime, violence and shootings specifically on college campuses. The FBI, Secret Service and Department of Education each contributed to the report.

The study included all forms of targeted violence that occurred on a campus between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 2008. In 108 years of data, the project studied 272 documented incidents of targeted violence on campus. These incidents added up to 281 deaths and 247 injuries. (By necessity, the study did not account for any unreported crimes. Also excluded are crimes that occurred after December 31, 2008 – such as the University of Alabama-Huntsville shooting.)

How did college crimes compare with K-12 schools when it comes to preventing these attacks? According to the report, any way you slice it, it’s harder beast to contend with.

“[College] campuses usually comprise many buildings, often with larger classrooms, separate faculty for each department, more uncontrolled access and egress, and irregular student schedules that minimize regular contact between educators and students,” the report states. “These factors are less conducive to observing and recognizing behavioral concerns among the student population.”

In other words, multiple factors on a college environment make these crimes even less preventable. In fact, the report states that there were warning signs or “concerning behaviors” present in only 31 percent of the cases. That means that a sturdy 69 percent of attackers don’t exhibit detectable signs or behaviors – which are already harder to notice on campus.

Maybe that’s why college campuses across the nation saw 3,287 rapes, 60 killings, 5,026 assaults and 4,562 robberies just in 2008.

One of the most disturbing trends is the dramatic rise in crimes in recent decades. The survey spanned 108 years, yet 60 percent of incidents were recorded within the past 20 years. The number of documented incidents has risen every decade since 1900.

One factor may be rising college enrollment, but clearly a collegiate population influx carries worse pitfalls than just crowded dormitories.

The report includes many other illuminating facts about campus violence:

79 percent of attacks occurred on the college campus grounds – 28% in dorms, 27% in parking lots or college grounds, and 26% in actual buildings. Over half of these attacks occurred in classrooms, dorms or offices – areas often assumed to be safe because of location or activity.

26 percent of attackers committed suicide after their attack. (This means a quarter of them had a death wish to begin with, but more importantly, three-quarters of attackers had a will to live which could presumably be used to halt attacks.)

Attackers’ ages ranged between 16 and 68, but only 8 percent of attackers had any kind of criminal history.

21 percent of the attacks or killings were random. In other words, you don’t have to be on the outs with someone to be find yourself at risk…your only crime could be standing nearby. And by the way, after all of this research, experts still have no idea why random targets are selected.

Guns were only used in attacks 54 percent of the time.

Females are disproportionately at risk, because a majority of college patrons (57% of students and 54% of faculty) are female.

Notably, the most recent FBI violent crime statistics show violent crime across the United States has declined, even as firearm ownership and concealed carry permits are reaching record highs.

Gun-free zones on college campuses force law-abiding citizens into a position of weakness. By insisting that no legally-armed student, professor or employee carry a concealed firearm for protection on campus, colleges are stacking the odds in favor of the violent perpetrators and assuring no citizen has the ability to resist.

Critics often claim college campuses are too dangerous to allow lawfully-armed citizens to be armed for their own protection. The research shows colleges are too dangerous not to.

A famous president once said “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

SCCC isn’t your country, and we’re not your president, but for those of you wanting to know what Students for Concealed Carry on Campus has done for you, the answer isn’t hard to find; legal victories in Colorado and Texas, moral victories in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and actual legislative progress in Georgia, South Carolina and Arizona. Plus, coordinating the national protest, crafting the national presence, and offering tools for you to succeed on your on campus.

Now SCCC needs your help. We need you to ask what you can do to help us. We have some fantastic people working with us already, devoting their time and their talent to a cause they believe in, and helping make SCCC a success. But we’re always looking to add more talent to the pool.

For starters, we have openings for regional directors in the Central and Northeast regions. Are you a good coordinator and leader who would be interested in working with SCCC national, coordinating on the campus level and helping spur legislation in your region? Maybe you’d like to step up and be a state director, or assistant state director.

Are you a graphics design artist? Do you have experience with web design, photography, videography or other design/image-based media?

Do you enjoy writing persuasively and debating the issue, helping convince skeptical classmates and readers of the truth?

If you have the time and talent, SCCC is asking for your help. What if you will be the one person that provides the final push, the one that makes that last bit of difference that pushes us over the finish line? Maybe all you can do is donate (which you can do securely via the PayPal link at the top-right of the home page), which is also greatly needed.

Regardless, we hope you’ll consider contributing to – and being a part of – the the next generation of freedom’s defenders.

Please contact the SCCC Organizers if you can help!