Special interests hostile to armed citizens and self-defense are once again spreading tired lies about Students for Concealed Carry on Campus and its mission. In press releases published mainly by anti-gun websites and blogs, groups such as the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus and the Brady Campaign claim that all efforts to rescind defense-free zones on college campuses in 2009 failed. Echoing similarly loaded and inaccurate allegations made earlier in the year, the notoriously anti-gun groups claimed failure in every state that considered concealed carry on campus legislation, calling such bills “dangerous,” “radical” and “extremist.”
These allegations come on the heels of legislation announced in three states (Georgia, Arizona and Virginia) which would remove arbitrary bans of concealed firearms on campus.
Furthermore, the critical eye of anti-defense groups somehow overlooked legislation passed in Arizona and South Carolina, which permits lawfully-armed citizens to keep firearms locked in their cars while on campus. They neglected to mention that legislation in Maryland, which would have criminalized concealed carry on campus, failed. They overlooked a Texas court siding with SCCC members wishing to protest concealed carry bans, and they ignored Michigan State University’s policy revision to allow concealed carry outside dorms and classrooms. In fact, far from being defeated, two bills introduced in Michigan in 2009 are still alive and pending.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus has lobbied for bills in more than 20 states since 2007, and expects more legislation across the United States in 2010. SCCC advocates allowing concealed carry of firearms on campus only by residents already authorized by their state government to carry elsewhere.
Anti-defense groups such as the Brady Campaign claim to represent students in the fight to keep colleges gun-free. Yet they remain silent when Colorado State University’s student government voted 21-3 in favor of keeping the concealed carry policy. They likewise enjoy propping up the opinions of anti-gun law enforcement only when convenient, ignoring local police who oppose the still-unenforced Colorado State gun ban, or who support Michigan concealed carry on campus legislation. They invoke safety as their chief goal, even though select colleges in Colorado, Michigan and Virginia, and all public universities in Utah, have successfully permitted concealed carry on campus, or that CSU’s crime rate plummeted upon the passage of concealed carry.
