Students, teachers and other frequents of UTSA should not be permitted to carry firearms on campus. After the shooting in Blacksburg, VA, many gun advocates claim that the last defense against such an attack should be an armed student and teacher population. It is proposed that a well-armed populace is the best defense against wanton acts of violence. Second Amendment advocates claim it is their constitutional right to carry a gun, disregarding the portion of the amendment that clearly denotes gun ownership to "well-regulated militias." Furthermore, there is no guarantee that because a person is allowed by law to carry a gun, said person will act responsibly "or even calmly" in any given situation. I am not willing to take the risk of allowing more guns into tumultuous campus outbreaks. It is also stated that because it is legal in Texas to carry a concealed weapon, a permit to do so designates a person with authority or legitimacy when it comes to actually using said weapon. I question the desire of permit-carriers: what right do you have to put those of us without weapons at additional risk? I, for one, do not trust a student with a firearm to defuse a treacherous scene. Rather, I see the potential to make dangerous situations even more life threatening. Gun advocates conveniently sidestep the subject of experience as well. The claim is that armed students could have gunned down Cho Seung-Hui before his rampage claimed the lives of many students and faculty. However, I challenge gun advocates to predict the outcome of any given violent situation. It seems much more likely that the tension and anxiety of such a predicament would lead to additional harm if more shooters were introduced. What if the tragedy at Virginia Tech evolved into a gun-battle with a madman on one side and students on the other? As a student at UTSA, I can firmly say that if students are allowed to carry guns onto campus, I will feel much more unsafe. We should not allow ourselves to submit to the fear of another campus shooting and react by arming the populous. The only responsible way to respond to such tragedies is with solidarity: do not allow the campus to become a breeding ground for gun violence.

Matthew B. Connor Senior Statistics