Opinion

Campus concealed carry bill no laughing matter Only university-owned buildings listed in concealed carry bill.

When Conan O'Brien poked fun at the issue, I couldn't help but laugh. Between jokes about President Barack Obama and Justin Bieber, the talk show host quipped, “This is weird: Texas is reportedly going to give college students the right to carry guns on campus. So, I guess next semester every college student in Texas is getting straight A's.”

Even I had to admit it was a pretty good joke. Sadly, late- night comedians aren't the only ones making jokes about legislators' efforts to legalize licensed concealed carry (of handguns) at Texas colleges.

Recently, editorialists and bloggers across the country jumped at the opportunity to portray Texas legislators as backward cowboys who refuse to let go of the Wild West and trade in their six-shooters for iPhones. Such stereotype-based caricatures don't reflect reality.

The 97 legislators who've signed on to Texas's pending “campus carry” bills haven't done so out of some misplaced devotion to the code of the West. Unlike most of their critics, they actually understand the issue.

An editorial in the online magazine CollegeCandy.com asks, “Can you imagine a frat party where the guys are allowed to have their guns? Nothing about that says ‘good idea' to me.” The drunken frat boy argument is such obvious, low-hanging fruit that one can almost forgive the author for conflating college campuses (where students study) with college life (where students party).

But the bills in question only apply to university-owned buildings and wouldn't change the laws at frat houses, which are owned by fraternal organizations and typically located off campus. Likewise, the bills wouldn't change laws at on-campus tailgating events, off-campus apartments, or bars (whether on campus or off). In short, the locations where students are most likely to drink and engage in high-risk behavior would still be governed by the same laws as before.

A Los Angeles Times editorial suggests, “A student firing back at a gunman in a crowded classroom might pose as much of a risk to his fellow students as the assailant.” But contrary to what Hollywood might have us believe, real-world shootouts don't involve 10 minutes of people diving over desks and ducking behind doorways to reload.

According to the FBI, most shootouts last less than 10 seconds. How could 10 seconds of exchanged gunfire between two armed individuals possibly lead to greater loss of life than a 10-minute, uncontested execution-style massacre like we saw at Virginia Tech, where the gunman walked from classroom to classroom shooting victims at pointblank range?

Today, one Texan out of every 55 is licensed to “pack heat” in such seemingly taboo locations as churches, movie theaters, shopping malls, restaurants, banks and even the Texas Capitol. Yet, a Texan is 20 times more likely to be struck by lightning than to be killed by a concealed handgun license holder.

The 71 U.S. college campuses that currently allow licensed concealed carry have yet to see a single resulting incident of gun violence (including threats and suicides), a single resulting gun accident or a single resulting gun theft.

Joking about campus carry legislation is well and good until you find yourself on a college campus, confronted by a madman who's chosen to ignore the school's “gun free” policy. Then it's no laughing matter.

W. Scott Lewis is Texas legislative director for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.