3/31/2009

Debate over gun free zones on college campuses heats up in Texas

The news article is here:

(AP)AUSTIN, Texas—John Woods sometimes sits in a classroom at the University of Texas and wonders what would happen if somebody walked in and started shooting.

It’s the kind of scenario he’s imagined since April 2007, when he was a student at Virginia Tech and his girlfriend and several other people he knew were gunned down in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.


There were times when Woods thought to himself that maybe he should get a gun.

“Then I learned pretty fast that wouldn’t solve anything,” said Woods, who is now a graduate student at UT. “The idea that somebody could stop a school shooting with a gun is impossible. It’s reactive, not preventative.”

Today, Woods is among the leaders in a fight against bills in the Texas Legislature that would allow licensed concealed gun carriers to bring their weapons to school.

The House version of the bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Driver, a Garland Republican, is scheduled for a public hearing Monday in the Public Safety Committee. . . . .

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5 Comments:

Blogger sgtlmj said...

Well, one 25 year old police officer REACTED and stopped what could have been a much larger massacre at a NC nursing home. People need to value life and learn that any resistance to cowardly murderers such as the VT shooter, NC shooter, et al., will stop them or at least slow them down.

3/31/2009 7:48 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Dear Mr. Woods,

Two words: Jeanne Assam.

Thanks for playing, enjoy the home game.

3/31/2009 8:41 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

There is an old saw that goes like this "Money makes good people better and bad people worse". Why? Well it gives a person power to change things in this world. The same goes for guns, in the hands of a brave young man or woman (Jeanne Assam comes to mind), a gun can save or take lives.

4/02/2009 7:51 PM  
Blogger Schism said...

“Then I learned pretty fast that wouldn’t solve anything,” said Woods, who is now a graduate student at UT. “The idea that somebody could stop a school shooting with a gun is impossible. It’s reactive, not preventative.”

Ummm, gee!!! Aren't police people "with guns" who are supposed to stop school shootings? (Granted, their record sucks, but still...)

One wonders just where Mr. Woods "learned" his new opinion...Violence Policy Center, perhaps?

4/05/2009 7:34 PM  
Blogger Mohawk-John Woods said...

I think Lance sort of gets it. Police react, they don't prevent. If we want to prevent, there are other things we can and should do--like making mental healthcare more accessible, and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and the mentally ill. Smaller class sizes would help, I think, as well. We could also try funding more police.

Schism acknowledges that police are supposed to stop school shootings, and they do. But they can't prevent them--and neither can a citizen with a gun. At best, a citizen with a gun can hope to stop a deranged student with another gun. Unfortunatley, the deranged maniacs have the advantage, since they don't think twice before pulling the trigger.

6/02/2009 8:56 PM  

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