Va Tech shootings

[Gitaroo Man]

By the 20th officers should have been there, but yeah I do agree with you on that.

I don't know. I'm just thinking about fellow students in my classes carrying guns during a lecture and something bothers me about it.

[warbeak2099]

It has nothing to do with you being harmful. It's just something that isn't helping the environment that we're in. A gun in a classroom seems to me like it wouldn't help me focus. Guns make A LOT of people nervous REGARDLESS of if they are pro or anti so that doesn't help when you are trying to learn.

How are you going to feel uncomfortable if it's concealed? And IMO it would help the situation. I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that responsible, law abiding citizens are carrying and thus keeping everyone safe. As long as a person is trained and qualified to carry, I feel safer having them in my classroom.

[Ole Unka Phil]

By the 20th officers should have been there, but yeah I do agree with you on that.

I don't know. I'm just thinking about fellow students in my classes carrying guns during a lecture and something bothers me about it.

They won't be there. They could not get in by the way. He chained the doors closed. They were on their own.

Not all your fellow students would carry. Not all of them are 21. Not all of them can pass the background check. Not all of them would take the training. Not all of them would CHOSE to carry.

How do you feel sitting in your classroom with students that maybe cannot do all that but are secretly carrying anyway? Who are doing it illegaly? Do you feel comfortable not knowing if any one of them might be carrying without a permit and not care about the laws? Do you think they don't do this? Do you think people with Carry permits somehow are a greater threat to you than those that could care less about the rules and laws? Remember... this guy didn't care.... the rules was no guns... did he obey that rule?

These students sat in their classroom feeling safe because they were told by their college that there would be no guns. Nothing to worry about. Safe as can be they said. We outlawed guns.

[Gitaroo Man]

Well I don't really feel unsafe here. So it's not like KNOWING they are present is making me feel any safer. I also have confidence that they will use them. If some bill was passed that allowed them to be on my campus and in classrooms then I could sure assume there was one in the classroom and thus be uncomfortable. I know it's not entirely rational but I can assume there is someone in the room with a gun and they make a lot of people nervous (me included even though I could care less if people own them) and wouldn't help me focus/learn.

[Glickman]

How are you going to feel uncomfortable if it's concealed? And IMO it would help the situation. I would feel a lot more comfortable knowing that responsible, law abiding citizens are carrying and thus keeping everyone safe. As long as a person is trained and qualified to carry, I feel safer having them in my classroom.

not that im arguing with you, i think something good to bring up would be how dorms bring in a different variables. for one, the chance a non-registered person may access the weapon is highly increased if you live with a roommate or more. Even with a lock box, the chances it could be wrongly accessed when the owners not there, or even asleep.

[Ole Unka Phil]

Those students felt safe. I can garantee you that. They expected not to need a gun. Most people don't...

but... its like anything... when you need one... you gotta have it on you then. Hopefully you will NEVER use it. But it does no good to not have it when you need it.

[warbeak2099]

I know it's not entirely rational

There's your problem

[Lohman446]

Well I don't really feel unsafe here. So it's not like KNOWING they are present is making me feel any safer. I also have confidence that they will use them. If some bill was passed that allowed them to be on my campus and in classrooms then I could sure assume there was one in the classroom and thus be uncomfortable. I know it's not entirely rational but I can assume there is someone in the room with a gun and they make a lot of people nervous (me included even though I could care less if people own them) and wouldn't help me focus/learn.

I have years of martial arts training.

I have years of weapons training, and weapon retention training.

I have spent 20+ hours in a classroom discussing the legality of firearm usage, situational awareness, and reaction.

I have spent far more time on the range practicing scenarios.

Do you feel uncomfortable around an officer with an exposed gun? Even if you know I have one, is it really that bad?

Then you have to weigh your uncomfortableness against my right to carry. I think my rights win in this case. You also have to consider the safety factor that armed citizens bring.

I would much rather have a gun, have you never know it, and never need it. Then to be standing there listening to gunfire in a hallway and wondering why I was not allowed to have it and hoping desperatly for a miracle.

[Gitaroo Man]

I know they felt safe. I'm just personally saying a fellow student carrying a handgun around won't PERSONALLY make ME feel more safe. The likely hood that the person with the concealed being around a gunmen is low and them taking the shot is even lower (I think, opinion...again). So I'm just saying I don't feel any safer with students having guns.

[Ole Unka Phil]

not that im arguing with you, i think something good to bring up would be how dorms bring in a different variables. for one, the chance a non-registered person may access the weapon is highly increased if you live with a roommate or more. Even with a lock box, the chances it could be wrongly accessed when the owners not there, or even asleep.

Absolutely! Guns safety and security is totaly an important aspect. its not unsurmountable. Lock boxes can be secure. Not sure why you don't think they can be. There are good ones.

I am not saying everyone should carry. But I am saying that those legaly allowed to do so should not be restricted from doing so. They have liabilities and have responsibilities. They are huge ones too. And they know it. Every one that I know that conceal carries is the least likely to be careless and probably more likely to avoid trouble than any one else I know.

[Gitaroo Man]

For the 50th time I'm saying GUNS MAKE PEOPLE NERVOUS. I realize you have a right to carry so go ahead and carry all you want. It's just if I found out about a gun being in the classroom (if) how am I supposed to know you're not concealing it for another school shooting or not? That's what would make me nervous.

[wjr]

For the 50th time I'm saying GUNS MAKE PEOPLE NERVOUS. I realize you have a right to carry so go ahead and carry all you want. It's just if I found out about a gun being in the classroom (if) how am I supposed to know you're not concealing it for another school shooting or not? That's what would make me nervous.

YES!!! Thank you for saying it. I agree.

[Ole Unka Phil]

If its concealed how will you know?

If you for some reason spot someone not concealing ask him/her. they will tell you. But your not going to be able to control what others do. They are carrying around you now. And perhaps some of them are illegal. Your best defense is to also be able to defend yourself.

One things for sure, you worrying about it or being irrational about it has not prevented it from happening. You can only protect yourself. You cannot control other people. Always will be that way.

So if I do as you wish I will just outlaw it. No carry in classrooms. Feel safer? Well.... thats the way it was today.. in Virginia...exactly as you like it... feel safer now?

[Eagle]

For the 50th time I'm saying GUNS MAKE PEOPLE NERVOUS. I realize you have a right to carry so go ahead and carry all you want. It's just if I found out about a gun being in the classroom (if) how am I supposed to know you're not concealing it for another school shooting or not? That's what would make me nervous.

Guns make who nervous? I live in the Richmond Va area, I go to night school, I have a concealled carry permit, and while I don;t know what my schools official policy is, I don't think I have ever gone to class unarmed. I sure as hell don't advertise, and I have no intentions of ever using it, but I've been predicting similar situations to this for years. That is why I carry, because I can, and because I intend to go down fighting if it comes to that. Be Prepared!

[SCpoloRicker]

First, terrible tragedy. Poor response from whatever passes for LE (although I'm not up to date on the particulars there).

That said, who the heck tells their school that they are armed? I felt no need to do so. Although I've never pursued CCW, I did have a pistol while at school.

I do feel like the way this thread is going has a certain flavor to it, that's sorta inevitable. Let's try and keep it civil.

/thinks gun control has gotten ridiculous on both sides