By Rob Morse

Southern California –-(Ammoland.com)- Should legally armed men and women, who peacefully carry their private firearms everywhere else the law allows, be barred from college property?

That is a good question, but it isn't the question that anti-rights advocates want to ask. It isn’t even close. The way you twist the question often determines the answer.

The anti-rights advocates want to phrase the question like this:

Should the pimply-faced delinquent who went off to college and got stoned the first time he was away from home, be given a gun to play with at school?

Choose from the following-

Yes (are you crazy, guess again)

NO!

GIVE US YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER AND HELP OUTLAW THE NRA TODAY!

That was my sample question. Now that you know how the propaganda game is played, here is another bait-and-switch question to test you.

“Why shouldn't we ban guns on campus?”

Do you see the hidden assumption? We don't really keep guns off campus any more than we stop drugs, robbery, or rape on campus. We only prohibit them, as if drugs, robbery and sexual assault weren't already against the law.

Now that I've sensitized you to the propaganda of false alternatives, listen carefully to the next gun-ban argument you hear and see if I exaggerated. When you do, please keep these facts in mind.

Licensed concealed carry holders are over 21 years old and have no criminal history. They carry almost everywhere else. Concealed carry holders are less violent and more law abiding than the police. The seven states which allow campus carry saw a drop in crime on campus.

Those are facts rather than a hypothetical speculation. Too bad the gun-ban groups forgot to mention them.

So I'm asking you, why do we want to disarm the truck driver who delivers to the college cafeteria.. or the mom who takes her child to the campus clinic?

Why will firearms prohibition succeed on campus where drug and alcohol prohibition failed?

You have 10 minutes to complete your answer. Cite your sources from the materials covered in class. 😉

About Rob Morse: By day, Rob Morse works as a mild mannered engineer for a Southern California defense contractor. By night he writes about gun rights at Ammoland, Clash Daily and on his SlowFacts blog. He is a combat handgun competitor and NRA basic pistol instructor.