Group argues for concealed weapons

By John Henry

Published April 25, 2008

A student group in support of allowing concealed weapons on campus talked to MU officials Tuesday in an effort to get them to understand their stance on the issue.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a nationwide student organization, maintains that allowing concealed weapons on the nation’s college campuses can help decrease university crime. Senior Paul Ready, leader of SCCC at MU, is trying to introduce a bill in Congress that would close any available option a Missouri university may use to prohibit the concealed carry of weapons on campus.

In his speech to the MU Campus Safety Committee, Ready said that although the campus is a gun-free zone, it is not a crime-free zone.

“While I certainly give all due respect to the campus police - they certainly risk a lot for us every day - they cannot be everywhere, and they cannot be everywhere enough to prevent every crime,” Ready said.

Over spring break, Ready said he met with at least 10 representatives in Jefferson City to lobby for his proposal. He said they indicated that discussion on campus concealed carry legislation would be in the plans for the next legislative session.

So far, Colorado State University, Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia and every public university in Utah permit the concealed carry of weapons on their respective campuses. Ready said there has yet to be an incident of gun violence related to concealed carry at any of those universities.

He said he believes the implementation of a similar concealed carry law in Missouri would be beneficial.

“We do believe, and certainly represent the position wholeheartedly, that there would be at least a marginal deterrent,” Ready said. “If there were at least a few crimes prevented with a minimal risk to campus safety, we believe that it is a positive move.”

MU Police Chief Jack Watring opposes a concealed carry law for MU. He said the desires of SCCC are underrepresented and not reflective of what the majority of students on campus want. Overall, SCCC at MU has 70 members including Ready, he said.

“If I figure my math right, that is .3 percent of the student population, not the whole population, but just the student population,” Watring said.

Nationwide, SCCC has a membership of more than 29,000 members. Ready said the organization formed immediately after the shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and saw its membership increase dramatically following the shootings at Northern Illinois University.

Watring applauded students such as Ready for being concerned about their campus’ safety following the events of Virginia Tech and NIU but said the economy is a better indicator of whether there will be more crimes on campus than recent school shootings.

“A lot of crime depends on the economy,” Watring said. “We are probably looking at the worse the economy gets, the more crime is going to go up.”

Graduate student Annie Lai attended the committee meeting. She said she has never felt threatened on campus but would like to hear more about Ready’s proposal because of its potential effects.

“I definitely think the consequences (of concealed carry) should be further addressed because the worse case scenario is you could have someone die from it,” Lai said.

Ready said he knows SCCC’s proposal is often unpopular among college students, so his group might introduce their proposal to a student audience sometime next year.

“We have considered hosting a public forum, but decided that it was better to pursue the administration with our initial efforts,” Ready said. “We may still host the forum next year.”