The extension of the right to carry a loaded and concealed handgun in public to students on college campuses has become a hot button issue on both sides of the \u201cgun rights debate.\u201d Our side, of course, points out that armed citizens \u2013 like the adult students who drew their licensed concealed handguns and successfully prevented a mass murder at the Appalachian Law School \u2013 can prevent horrors like the massacre of helpless students and teachers perpetrated by the psycho at Virginia Tech just a few years ago at about this time of year.<\/p>\n
Opponents, of course, cry that students are too young and immature to be trusted with deadly force. Funny\u2026our country has trusted college-age Americans to go forth with powerful weapons and defend our nation since the time of the Revolution.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re talking, basically, about people 21 or older who have been vetted by law enforcement entities and issued carry permits.\u00a0 My last year in college I was 21, and almost daily carried a handgun concealed, usually a Colt .45 auto if I was wearing a jacket, or a snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolver under an un-tucked shirt. Neither law nor college policy forbade it; I never needed it there; no one ever noticed it; and all was well.<\/p>\n