By ST
Being a prior service college student is a strange experience sometimes. In some respects it’s like being a character on the Twilight Zone: you see things others do not. I had the occasion to visit a university office which shared its building with a four-story dormitory. As I waited in the office, a cable installer visited the twenty-something receptionist. She handed over the log, let the guy sign the binder and gave him a master key without verifying a single piece of ID. Sure he was wearing a company jacket with the company logo, but that didn’t mean squat . . .
A bad guy with planning skills, a credit card and time could gain access to any building on campus they wish with only a cable company blazer and a smile. That’s just one security hole I noticed, but hardly the only one.
This university makes a big deal about key card access and locked doors at their residence halls. Unfortunately, smokers and good samaritans routinely prop the side doors open for strangers. Friends let other friends into their buildings routinely as well, so a social group with people living in different buildings conceivably has free reign to enter and exit any dorm building they have collective access to.
Another weakness: law enforcement’s physical location. Due to an intentionally convoluted road system, driving to a crisis scene isn’t an option. A LEO answering a call would have to zig zag all over the campus before reaching any specific building. It doesn’t help that the police station is on the far north end of the campus, so may God have mercy on anyone in need of police assistance on the south side of campus.
Lastly, we come to the classrooms themselves. Said rooms are laid out with the intent to facilitate learning. Unfortunately this also means the rooms are deathtraps. There’s no other way to put it.
One entry or exit, no cover, barely any concealment worth the term and the exit is secured by a cheap door which is easily kicked in. Once an attacker has gained entry, literally the only option left to a classroom full of people is to shoot back. Escape is not an option.
Except guns are banned at most universities. Why? Mostly because university staffers know as much about site security as Marines know about interior decorating. Their worldview just doesn’t encompass reacting to human violence, so a great many of them genuinely think it doesn’t exist. It’s one thing to see an 18-year-old freshman act like human beings don’t routinely assault each other. It’s another to see grey-haired men and women twice my age hold the same attitude. It wouldn’t be so bad if these people weren’t responsible for the college and the welfare of factuality, staff and students.
Thus firearms on campus isn’t a security issue for them because remember, the administrators and staff don’t believe in violence or the need for force no matter how it’s delivered. It’s a ideological challenge to their core belief system because they’ve built their careers on educating people to reject violence. Campus carry, to them, is like ordering a mosque to accept Jewish rabbis as honored guests. The act of carry is a challenge to their very worldview, which is why college administrators would rather your son, daughter, niece sister or brother be assaulted or shot to death than take concrete steps to secure the learning environment.
On the flip side, parents, please take the time to educate your kids about making good choices. No, I don’t mean booze or weed. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen a young woman jogging around this urban campus at zero dark thirty, I’d buy out Micheal Bloomberg’s corporate empire. I’m a 6′ 1″ military vet and I do my late night running at the gym.
Teach your kids about mindset and knowing how to avoid selecting yourself for a bad time of things. They’ll be on their own in a far away place, probably for the first time, forced by law or policy to delegate their personal security to an uncaring bureaucracy. Failing a math test may hurt their grade point average, but failing at situational awareness can be life or death.
“Unfortunately, NICS checks aren’t specific enough for us to draw direct conclusions”
Fortunately you mean.
Personally I would never use a revolver to turn hot dogs, I prefer a bayonet.
Q: Do you own a gun?
A) Yes
B) No
C) None of your damn business.
I answer C) every time!
Q – Do you own a gun?
A – How long have you been beating your spouse?
Usually that becomes the end of the conversation.
Awesome epic fail.
Yes folks, it’s come to this and this is what we’re up against.
It might be fun to deconstruct and fisk this bit of psy-ops agitprop but frankly, I have better things to do with my time. You’d have to be pretty irrational and unhinged to work up a piece of “art” like that. The good thing it that the “People of the Gun” are living in this chick’s head rent free and it’s clearly driving her crazy. Heh.
As a University student who has been carrying for a little over a year now, all I can say is this. My LCP hasn’t made me or anyone else less safe, nobody has found it, and it hasn’t distracted anyone else’s learning.
I thought RF was being harsh and toxic until I actually played the video and… good God.
Just… wow. Words fail me.
Well, she was correct when she said that the Founding Fathers were rolling in their graves. Not for the reasons she’s thinking though…
Their calling the cops to report the conversation is a tip, that’s all. The cops can choose to investigate it further– and found out he should be arrested– or they could have ignored it. Tips come from all kinds of sources. This turned out to be more than just a harmless question.
If the university the article is referring to is the one pictured, I can vouch for it’s security lapses. I was a student there from 2003-2008.
One day after crashing at a friend’s dorm the previous night, I realized I had left my key and ID in my own room…I was locked out. I went to the dorm office, and without showing proof that I was a student or resident of that dorm, was given a MASTER KEY TO THE WHOLE DORM. Oh, and by the way, this was the day of the 2004 Bush/Kerry Presidential debate which was held on the campus. (Interesting that snipers on every rooftop and armed security everywhere seemed more more effective than the gun free zone signs when the president is involved, huh?)
After a student was raped after her dorm room was broken into in 2009, I promised them they won’t see a dime until the security issues on that campus were resolved.
“I’ve seen this movie. At least one alien is coming through the ceiling.”
One burglar permanently retired, another burglar who is probably looking into other kinds of work. and several others that have been reminded of the dangers of a life of crime. Nothing but good here.
In Texas, you are allowed to defend yourself and your property. No charges will be filed against the 18 year old.
Pretty sure we could have defeated Nazi Germany without guns if we’d been able to drop this video on them. Or that girl’s ass. It’s pretty huge.
eyes wide shut
One point about the NICS check count – In any state that requires a permit to purchase a firearm the applicant undergoes an NICS check before the application is approved and then is free to purchase as many firearms as they want without additional checks for as long as the permit is valid. Furthermore, CCW permits generally have the additional benefit of functioning as a purchase permit only they are valid for 5 years or so. There are a significant number of states with permit to purchase requirements and in those states the number of NICS checks are likely to be dwarfed by the actual number of purchases.
Texas justice at it’s best. The other 49 should take note. They make it so complicated that justice becomes insanity.
I’m glad to see you taking on this topic. Well done. In addition to the anecdotal evidence we see from firearms retailers and ranges being busier than ever and seeing a more diverse clientele than ever before, there is the annual retailer survey conducted by NSSF that shows store owners report that 25% of their customers are first time.
“Did you hear there were SIX undercover cops amongst the bikers that attacked and nearly killed an SUV driver in New York?”
Nope I hadn’t. Six undercovers and a bunch of corrections officers. Where’s all the media whooping over that detail?
I see this same theme repeatedly. Bad guys knock on front door. If they get no answer they go around back and attempt break in. If i’m home and somebody knocks on my door I’m going to let them know the house is occupied.
Let my non gun owning neighbers have visitors. I have a security door I can talk thru and they can’t get all grabby. If they did, I would get all shooty.
“An AR15 “style” assault rifle”? What does that mean? Either it’s an AR15 semi-automatic or not. Let’s stick with the AR15 shotgun which, as we all know, is just as prolific.
Owning a liquor store in Detroit has to be a dangerous occupation. I think I’d rather do a tour in the sandbox than work a week in a Detroit liquor store.
In MO (St. Louis area) I can get 9mm and 223 all day. 22lr still hard to get.
Big fan of GunBot.net. I set up email alerts in 9mm and 5.56 a few months ago. Best price I remember from last week was $0.36/round for 55gr federal from Sportsmans guide, and $0.26/round for some 9mm from Freedom Munitions.
Locally, Everything Weapons in Brentwood, tn has pretty good stock. The prices aren’t cheap, but also aren’t stoopid ($0.45-$0.60 for 5.56 PMC).
Those morons lying on the ground is partly why i’m a misanthropist. That much stupid in one place is disparaging. Omg there is a law that says that a person can defend themselves. A law where the victim doesn’t have to run as fast as they can when someone else stomps their foot and goes boo, and even use force, lethal if needed, should the other person become aggressive.
I take that “it’ll be like the wild west” slogan as a good thing. Why? Because we had less wusses who want to force everyone to roll belly up like a submissive dog than use our teeth to bite back. I guess people back in the old days also didn’t have the luxury to be delicate and ultra submissive in harsh areas.
While we’ve got all you shotgunners here, what is the point of “drillings” shotguns?
Does one barrel fire a slug or something?
Why does no one ever pick the maxim the bar the 1919 the 60 or maybe even the 249 as a favorite? Its always the mg42 and yes I know the 60 shares a few things with the 42 bust still.
Guys – it can’t be fitted from Taurus with a flash hider or threaded barrel, or a non-craptacular pseudo-thumbhole stock. Import laws, remember? And don’t even think about putting your own on unless the aftermarket helps you out with the compliance-parts dance.