As a student at Virginia Tech, I can firmly say that your arguments are absurd. You question the desire of permit-carriers? How about you question the desires of criminals who carry around guns WITHOUT going through the trouble of getting a permit? While you put law-abiding citizens who wish to carry a gun on campus through the ringer, you neglect to even think what a criminal with a gun can do to someone who isn't allowed to be armed. As a female on a campus that doesn't allow me to carry a gun, I risk getting raped, robbed or shot by criminals who don't give a damn about your supposed restrictions on guns on campus. That is wonderful that you don't trust a student with a firearm to defuse a treacherous scene. Who, then, DO you trust? Do you trust the police? Because I personally saw the police scrambling around on my campus after the first shootings with no idea where the shooter was headed. With police response times as they are (and that is in no way their fault) people are ultimately responsible for their own security. I would rather be armed and ready to protect myself, even if it does make people like you a little squeamish to see someone with a gun. And your idea that the only responsible way to respond to such tragedies is with "solidarity" is about the most absurd claim in your entire article. What would you have campuses do? Join hands and sing Kumbaya? There is no way to make 100 percent of the people feel welcome and loved 100 percent of the time. And even if you could, you aren't accounting for the mentally deranged people who will not respond to you no matter how many hugs you give them. Hopefully schools like Virginia Tech and UTSA soon realize that instead of protecting students with these kinds of policies, they are taking away the right we have to protect ourselves. Until then, just remember when you're deciding what life-threatening policies to follow, it is better to be judged by twelve than carried by six. Allison Aldrich Junior at Virginia Tech Political Science & English