cdward: the armed guy with a concealed permit in Tuson when Giffords was shot, also didn’t use his, as he didn’t want to be confused as the shooter, or shoot the wrong person or rack up more “collateral damage”…
The ’toon pretty well illustrates what happens to all kinds of signs “out in the country”, traffic signs, interpretive signs, and especially any sign that prohibits or restricts any activity your average gun owner wants to pursue, on public OR private lands.
In 2011, though, the Oregon court of appeals ruled that gun bans on public campuses exceeded the university’s authority.
At issue was a state law declaring that only the state legislature could regulate the use, sale and possession of firearms. The following year, the Oregon state board of higher education approved a policy that banned guns from being brought inside campus buildings. However, the status of campus gun regulations has yet to be fully settled in the courts.
What is clear, Erika Soto Lamb, communications director at Everytown for Gun Safety, wrote in an email, is that “Oregon law actually forces colleges to allow guns on campus grounds”.
Oregon is one of fewer than a dozen states, along with more conservative counterparts like Mississippi and Utah, which allow concealed carry on college campuses.
At Umpqua Community College, the site of Thursday’s tragedy, the policy change came in a meeting of the board of directors on 9 November 2011. According to the minutes, the Oregon Community College Association legal counsel “spoke about the gun law changes which affect the ability to carry a concealed weapon on campus”.
As a result, the counsel noted: “If you have a concealed weapon card, the policy of the board may not restrict a person from carrying a weapon.”
Umpqua’s policy soon changed to allow guns on campus, although “at the time of the shooting, Umpqua Community College had as strong a policy as Oregon law permits”, Lamb said.
A frequent refrain among conservatives is that violent rampages happen in places like college campuses and movie theaters precisely because guns are banned there. The thinking goes that someone setting out to commit a massacre can select a target where he is reasonably assured not to encounter an armed citizen. (There is no evidence of a shooter ever selecting a target precisely because it is a gun-free zone.)
In the Umpqua case, though, at least one student (and likely others) was carrying a concealed weapon during the massacre. Needless to say, this did not prevent the tragedy.
An armed Umpqua student, John Parker Jr, explained just how difficult, if not impossible, it would have been for an armed bystander to stop the attack.
“The Swat team wouldn’t know who we were, and if we had our guns ready to shoot, they could think we were bad guys,” he told MSNBC.The Guardian
“Just another myth started to confuse the issue and give blank ammunition to the ones who are against any regulation or even strict laws, not written by ALEC, that will make it hard for some people to get weapons.”.The problem isn’t getting the weapons. Criminals get weapons all the time despite the laws because they don’t even bother with the legal ways of getting weapons. The only way you would have prevented the Oregon shooting with tighter regulations is with a complete gun ban.
Stolen Valor poseurs and REMFs from the Legion Hall and rightwing cartoonist clowns believe the NRA line. Real combat vets know better than to play Rambo.
cdward over 8 years ago
Oh, the first modern mass school shooting was on a Texas campus – not a gun-free zone.
moosemin over 8 years ago
I would guess that the people who made those signs are now collecting unemployment.
Dtroutma over 8 years ago
cdward: the armed guy with a concealed permit in Tuson when Giffords was shot, also didn’t use his, as he didn’t want to be confused as the shooter, or shoot the wrong person or rack up more “collateral damage”…
Dtroutma over 8 years ago
The ’toon pretty well illustrates what happens to all kinds of signs “out in the country”, traffic signs, interpretive signs, and especially any sign that prohibits or restricts any activity your average gun owner wants to pursue, on public OR private lands.
kaffekup over 8 years ago
In 2011, though, the Oregon court of appeals ruled that gun bans on public campuses exceeded the university’s authority.
At issue was a state law declaring that only the state legislature could regulate the use, sale and possession of firearms. The following year, the Oregon state board of higher education approved a policy that banned guns from being brought inside campus buildings. However, the status of campus gun regulations has yet to be fully settled in the courts.
What is clear, Erika Soto Lamb, communications director at Everytown for Gun Safety, wrote in an email, is that “Oregon law actually forces colleges to allow guns on campus grounds”.
Oregon is one of fewer than a dozen states, along with more conservative counterparts like Mississippi and Utah, which allow concealed carry on college campuses.
At Umpqua Community College, the site of Thursday’s tragedy, the policy change came in a meeting of the board of directors on 9 November 2011. According to the minutes, the Oregon Community College Association legal counsel “spoke about the gun law changes which affect the ability to carry a concealed weapon on campus”.
As a result, the counsel noted: “If you have a concealed weapon card, the policy of the board may not restrict a person from carrying a weapon.”
Umpqua’s policy soon changed to allow guns on campus, although “at the time of the shooting, Umpqua Community College had as strong a policy as Oregon law permits”, Lamb said.
A frequent refrain among conservatives is that violent rampages happen in places like college campuses and movie theaters precisely because guns are banned there. The thinking goes that someone setting out to commit a massacre can select a target where he is reasonably assured not to encounter an armed citizen. (There is no evidence of a shooter ever selecting a target precisely because it is a gun-free zone.)
In the Umpqua case, though, at least one student (and likely others) was carrying a concealed weapon during the massacre. Needless to say, this did not prevent the tragedy.
An armed Umpqua student, John Parker Jr, explained just how difficult, if not impossible, it would have been for an armed bystander to stop the attack.
“The Swat team wouldn’t know who we were, and if we had our guns ready to shoot, they could think we were bad guys,” he told MSNBC.The Guardian
rallsolo over 8 years ago
“Just another myth started to confuse the issue and give blank ammunition to the ones who are against any regulation or even strict laws, not written by ALEC, that will make it hard for some people to get weapons.”.The problem isn’t getting the weapons. Criminals get weapons all the time despite the laws because they don’t even bother with the legal ways of getting weapons. The only way you would have prevented the Oregon shooting with tighter regulations is with a complete gun ban.
rallsolo over 8 years ago
But wait! I thought it was all about the gun!
Michael Peterson Premium Member over 8 years ago