We often get people posting to our Facebook page telling us to just carry our guns anyway. “Concealed means concealed!” they’ll say. What they often overlook are the consequences.
We don’t.
It’s not as simple as being fired from a job as a convenience store clerk.
It’s not as simple as a pleading out to a misdemeanor.
For students, faculty, and staff, being caught with a gun on campus can carry consequences as severe if not more than a felony, even on campuses where they are permitted by law.
Heather’s story highlights just how severe violating policy, even while obeying the law can be. Instead of being able to take measures to defend herself against an active stalker, she was forced to decide between the possibility of a violent attack and expulsion from dental school with only a year left. Both carry severe consequences.
She could’ve kept her firearm in her car, increasing the odds she wouldn’t fall victim to her stalker. She could not keep her firearm in her car, ensuring she wouldn’t face administrative action. In the end, she chose the latter.
Yes, keeping a gun in her car may have saved her life or prevented a rape. But, at what cost? Never realizing her dream of being a dentist, something that she has devoted her entire adult life to achieve?
For her, expulsion was the equivalent of a life sentence.
But, why must she choose? Why must she, a lawfully licensed concealed handgun carrier, be forced to yield the upper-hand to someone intent on doing her harm? How is disarming her keeping anyone else safe?
[…] sanctions sometimes carry consequences so severe that even where otherwise permitted by law affiliates will follow policy and not carry. Even if […]