Paramount Theatre
A Campus Full of Well-Armed Students?
RECEIVED Mon., May 25, 2009
Dear Editor,
Re: Guns on campus – Senate Bill 1164 [“When Good Things Happen to Bad Bills – and Vice Versa,” News, May 22]: another hair-brained piece of legislation to address a nonproblem (include the Voter ID bill here).
SB 1164 “(b) authorizes a license holder to carry a concealed handgun on or about the license holder's person while the license holder is on the campus of an institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education in this state.
“To receive a license to carry a concealed handgun in Texas, a person must be a legal resident of Texas, at least 21 years of age …”
Using the University of Texas at Austin as an example: UT enrolls 50,000 students each semester (give or take a few thousand). 60% are under the age of 21. Which means that only 40% of 50,000 could be eligible to carry a concealed handgun on the campus and in the classrooms. Oh, goody.
So, parents of teenagers (in and outside Texas), do you want your kid to attend a university where the campus could be crawling with as many as 20,000 well-armed, very young (21 to 25 is still very young) students? How will we be able to tell if the armed person is a student?
I would be looking for an affordable education out of state.
Ah ha, this could be a way to address the “real” problem of overcrowded universities and shrinking state funds for higher education: Fewer students attracted to Texas’ state universities means fewer students enrolled, which means fewer state dollars needed for funding. Voilà! – problem solved.
Re: Guns on campus – Senate Bill 1164 [“When Good Things Happen to Bad Bills – and Vice Versa,” News, May 22]: another hair-brained piece of legislation to address a nonproblem (include the Voter ID bill here).
SB 1164 “(b) authorizes a license holder to carry a concealed handgun on or about the license holder's person while the license holder is on the campus of an institution of higher education or private or independent institution of higher education in this state.
“To receive a license to carry a concealed handgun in Texas, a person must be a legal resident of Texas, at least 21 years of age …”
Using the University of Texas at Austin as an example: UT enrolls 50,000 students each semester (give or take a few thousand). 60% are under the age of 21. Which means that only 40% of 50,000 could be eligible to carry a concealed handgun on the campus and in the classrooms. Oh, goody.
So, parents of teenagers (in and outside Texas), do you want your kid to attend a university where the campus could be crawling with as many as 20,000 well-armed, very young (21 to 25 is still very young) students? How will we be able to tell if the armed person is a student?
I would be looking for an affordable education out of state.
Ah ha, this could be a way to address the “real” problem of overcrowded universities and shrinking state funds for higher education: Fewer students attracted to Texas’ state universities means fewer students enrolled, which means fewer state dollars needed for funding. Voilà! – problem solved.
Mary Patrick
