Starting Oct. 1, North Carolina House Bill 937 will go into effect, and permit-holding students will be allowed to keep firearms in their cars parked on campus.
When this bill was being debated, UNC-System police chiefs attended a committee hearing at the General Assembly, and they even presented a letter to the state government expressing their disapproval of the legislation. But the legislature went against the opinion of those perhaps best qualified to comment on this matter and passed the bill, which will also allow concealed firearms in bars and restaurants unless the owners of the establishment explicitly forbid them.
“We felt this bill was not in the best interest of promoting the safety of our students,” said N.C. State Police Chief Jack Moorman. He outlined two main concerns regarding the law. First, he pointed out that vehicle break-ins occur on college campuses, and it would be unwise to risk letting guns fall into the hands of those inclined to break into cars. Secondly, he presented a likely way events might unfold in the case of a “shooter situation,” wherein people would return to their cars to get guns, causing potentially lethal confusion about who the shooter is.
Apart from Campus Police, Chancellor Randy Woodson also spoke out against having guns on campus is a bad idea.
But now that the law has been passed, Moorman has said that his priority is no longer fight it but to educate the campus community regarding gun safety.
We understand and appreciate Moorman’s intention to switch the priority of Campus Police to education, but we do think that the General Assembly and Gov. Pat McCrory should have listened to the police chiefs.
They lack the experience and wisdom Moorman is able to provide, but that’s no excuse for their lack of common sense. For the sake of common sense, the editorial board of the Technician would like to state this: Giving guns to drunken people or potentially militarizing colleges is a bad idea. Allowing guns in bars and in cars on campuses is plain stupid. As the students of N.C. State saw in 2004 after the tailgate shooting: guns, alcohol and college students do not mix well.
In any case, it’s not like there are mass shootings at schools and colleges because of the lack of guns on campus. The problem isn’t about how to stop mass shootings—it’s about addressing what leads to the increase of mass shootings in the last few years in the United States. It’s about mending our social fabric.
However, thinking about deeper issues is tough, and because the government hasn’t been able to put its finger on fundamental problems, it’s advocating that we put our finger on our triggers instead.
If this campus has reached a state wherein people think students should have guns on campus, then we don’t actually need guns on campus, we need to transfer somewhere else. But we think this campus hasn’t reached that state, so, please people, let’s hold our horses, not our guns.
