Campus no place for firearms

And john, how would a gun take away from a low stress environment if nobody knows it is there but the student, concealed is concealed. To say that there would be individuals so distraught and removed from the learning environment as to take away from their teaching is stupid and unfounded. Those same individuals are perfectly capable of going to the movies or eating at a nice restaurant, or going to the super market to purchase groceries with no issues. Are they suddenly going to switch into paranoia mode once they realize that there are people in those places carrying a firearm?

I believe the scenario posed below was to show the fact that while a police officer has sworn to protect you, there is no legal backing behind that, but if you want to go into the actual self defense scenario to clear it up we might as well. As a person licensed to carry a firearm I know that I cant just whip out my firearm to quell a situation. If it comes out of the holster it is being used and that is the end of that. You cant use it as leverage in a situation, or brandish it to show that you are tough. Now if whoever is attacking me is able to turn and run faster than I can draw and pull the trigger, I would place it back into the holster, move to a safe location, and call the police. Up until this point I have no broken any law. Even in the event that I had pulled the trigger I havent done anything wrong. Keep in mind this is in a situation where I believe that my life or the life of another is in mortal danger, if a guy just wants my wallet, he can have it.

Anonymous:

You cant generalize millions of people by the actions of one person. There are plenty of registered concealed carry individuals who go about their lives without a single problem or care in the world. A firearm is a tool, not a license to kill. Like a seat belt it is there when you need it most, every other drive it is just there. You wear it every time you get in a car not hoping to get into a car crash, but knowing that it will be there should the unexpected happen. it doesnt give you a free pass to go speeding down the road putting peoples lives at risk.

On the other side of that coin you just described two individuals, ie police officers, who you expect to be competent enough to protect you should you ever need them. If anything that story just cements the fact that you cant rely on anyone else but yourself.

Yeah, to hell with common sense.

As someone who has spent 9 years in the U.S Army and seen countless people trained in the proper handling of a firearm I can safely say that yes, I can assume that "a person trained and certified in the proper carry of a firearm could act responsibly" but my god have I seen "a person trained and certified in the proper carry of a firearm" do some stupid and irresponsible things with their firearms. It only needs to go wrong once for it to matter, no matter how many times it goes right. As an NCO during my deployment to Afghanistan we had to stay vigilant against soldiers, combat trained soldiers, making small and dumb mistakes with their firearms (.50 cal bullets getting shot through living areas, accidental discharges, and even accidental self inflicted gunshot wounds). I feel that allowing poorly trained civilians to carry firearms, whether openly or concealed into a crowded environment would be a huge judgement error.

As for your police officer doing nothing scenario how would you having a gun improve the situation? The second you pulled it and threatened whomever was "attacking you" the police officer would have to step in due to you breaking the law and threatening someones life with a firearm. Especially with Florida not being an open carry state and brandishing a firearm in plain sight carries a misdemeanor of the second degree, and is punishable by up to 60 days imprisonment and a $500 fine. Again, how would introducing a gun into this scenario increase your ability to protect yourself if you are under physical attack? Why could't they take the gun from you? What if wrestling for the gun it goes off and someone unrelated get hurt? Your example is to vague and has to many what if scenarios to make any plausible sense.

The comment that "It is assumed that people who carry guns are so on edge that they are unable to express their opinion" is just false. I believe what the article is trying to say is that allowing guns onto campus would take away form students being able to learn in a low stress environment and present a greater exposure to new gun related injuries.

As for the civil rights argument that since the constitution awards you the right to bare arms you should be allowed to, realize that UCF is in the business of education and is well with in its rights to ban firearms from its property regardless of the constitution.

Finally, what type of die hard situation do you feel that you will need a gun for on campus that you realistically couldn't diffuse with a taser, pepper spray, mace, or some common sense and a cool prevailing head?

I'll let you go search for the details of the event for yourself, but know that all it takes to cause a shootout on campus is for a hand to tough the gun in a holster because somebody gets into a heated argument about an abortion sign or because they're being called a slur by a crazy preacher.