Previous Post
Next Post

Sniper (courtesy gunrunnerhell.tumblr.com)

“There are nearly a million students from other countries enrolled at American colleges and universities,” qz.com informs. “Since they contribute $30 billion to the US economy, it is important that they feel welcome and safe. This article is directed at them so they can do just that.” Why would a foreign student not survive their education in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave? Because guns! Like this . . .

The most important thing to learn about America is its gun culture. Foreign observers often consider it a nationwide obsession since, with 88 guns for every 100 Americans, this country has more firearms than any other in history. With just 5% of the world’s population, it has somewhere between a third and a half of all the firearms in the hands of civilians.

Some would say that if those remaining 12 Americans could be convinced to buy guns, everyone would be safer. That is not true, but like most things in American politics, the facts don’t matter all that much. Even though research on gun violence is officially suppressedand feared, there are studies that show the more guns there are in a state, the more violent crime it has.

Well, one things for sure: the facts don’t matter all that much in this article. Suffice it to say, the United States is WAY down on the list of nations by homicide rates in the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s Global Study on Homicide. If a foreign student avoids areas where gang bangers bang, they have a greater chance of winning the lottery than getting shot (or stabbed, bludgeoned, etc.). That said, qz.com’s Dennis Jett kinda acknowledges this. You know, in passing.

While this history has led to a proliferation of small arms and the violence associated with them, there is really little risk to international students. The violence mainly consists of white men committing suicide and black men being shot by other black men or, of course, the police. Nonetheless, since having a gun around triples the chances for a homicide or suicide, for your personal safety, it would be a good idea not to go to school in certain states.

Wait. What? Turns out that Mr. Jett reckons that any state that allows concealed carry on campus MUST BE AVOIDED!

States that allow guns on campus. Since guns are carried in a concealed fashion, it will never be clear who is packing one, so these are the most dangerous states: Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.

Other states allow guns on campus, but let schools decide on limitations. Since such policies are easily changed, these states should also be considered unsafe: Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Some states allow guns to be kept in cars. Enroll in institutions in them only if you don’t intend to drive, ride in a car, or walk near a parking lot: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.

Many states provide no guidance and allow institutions to set their own rules. So check with each college you might want to attend in these states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.

And let’s not forget those few remaining states where guns on campus are prohibited by law and you will be relatively safer: Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

A few other tips for avoiding problems while in America. If you approach, or are approached by, law enforcement officers, always do so with your hands up and ask a friend to video the encounter. And finally don’t go near any borders or it will be assumed that you entered illegally.

Avoid Idaho? Spaetzle-loving German exchange students are going to be bummed. And Colorado and Utah? And skip some of the world’s best skiing? That powder’s so fine I’d be tempted to go to college in those states even if there were a few snipers on the slopes. I’d like to think that college-bound students are smart enough to know anti-American anti-gun agitprop when they read it. But then, maybe not.

Previous Post
Next Post

120 COMMENTS

  1. The funniest part was near the end.

    “If you approach, or are approached by, law enforcement officers, always do so with your hands up and ask a friend to video the encounter.”

    Just like the natives of the U.S.A. always do.

    • …because it’s fun to watch your friend get beaten and arrested for lawfully recording video of the public acts of public officials…

    • I dunno, I liked “Some states allow guns to be kept in cars. Enroll in institutions in them only if you don’t intend to drive…”

      Because otherwise your car will sprout guns?

      • No, it’s because rabid guns sometimes break out of cars and attack people. It could be easily prevented by a proper regimen of cheap and readily available vaccines, but because American gun owners are so reckless, many of their guns aren’t properly vaccinated, putting them at a high risk of rabies – and the gun immunity bills passed by the NRA lobby let them just shrug off the charges in court if their pet gun hurts someone. It’s really not worth the risk; just stay away, and stick to friendly states like CA and NY.

        • On that note, shouldn’t they also spay and neuter their guns so they can control the “gun population”? Freaking hilarious post my friend, absolutely wonderful.

  2. We don’t need to make foreigners feel more comfortable to support our economy, unless by economy, you mean supporting the cesspools of liberal/communist/progressive “higher” education. Let communists fund that crap with dead people parts. Planned Parenthood is already using the kids. China’s got a lock on the incarcerated and old people, looks like that just leaves polluted Gen-X and politicians. Somebody tell Chucky Schumer to get in the oven

    If they want to come here great, if not, even better.

    If we don’t need the oppression of the evil (D) we sure as F don’t need foreigners.

  3. Someone actually wasted their time writing this article and someone published it? Qz.Com needs to get their money back. They got ripped off.

    • This may have been in response to the recent killing of the 19 year old Arizona State student from China in a road rage incident where some random nut job pulled out a gun and started firing into her car. Generally speaking, that sort of thing seriously concerns people from places where random shootings like that aren’t as common as they are here.

      • As opposed to any other random act of violence that can happen anywhere in the world? ROTFLMAO

        If they haven’t figured out that sometimes bad people do bad things then perhaps they shouldn’t leave home.

      • Yet non criminals are safer in the US than Canada, Australia or the European average.

        About US 30 jurisdiction shave look at who are victims of homicide and they find from 81% to 94% of homicide victims in their jurisdictions have criminal records or are participating in a crime when killed. That number does not even include gang members who do not yet have a criminal record but who are killed as a result of gang membership.

    • I don’t think so, he writes other crazy stuff as well.

      Here, he tries to sell out America’s ally Israel:
      http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/2015/10/02/Fix-the-special-relationship/stories/201509300044

      This one is a doozy, about the movie AMERICAN SNIPER, which Dennis Jett admits to no seeing but still didn’t reviews it:
      “The Real ‘American Sniper’ Had No Remorse About the Iraqis He Killed”
      No kidding, Mr. Jett? Chris Kyle had no remorse about the jihadists he killed because they were despicable.

      A good fisking of one of Jett’s article from the NEW REPUBLIC:
      http://www.nationalreview.com/article/396307/no-senate-republicans-arent-blocking-reasonable-treaties-ted-r-bromund

      • >> Here, he tries to sell out America’s ally Israel:

        It amuses me that so many people are adamant about denying welfare for basic stuff like food and healthcare to their fellow citizens, but approve of sending billions of dollars in foreign aid (i.e. welfare) to Israel, which is the single richest country in the region (and which uses this aid pretty much entirely to expand their military, which is already pretty damn impressive).

        What’s even funnier is that of all the countries that receive American military aid, Israel is probably the single most useless “ally”. At least other scum in the region, like the Arab monarchies, provide air bases for USAF; but Israel doesn’t do that, nor does it provide troops nor any other direct support for any US-instigated military operations in the area. Instead, Israel spies on US, and occasionally kills American soldiers by “mistake” – and gets away with it in a way no other country could. Yet at the same time, Israel expects US to come to its aid directly should they get involved into anything serious – and American politicians are happy to oblige.

        I would say that the current situation would be most accurately described as “selling US out to Israel”, not the other way around.

        • I seriously doubt that said intelligence is worth $3 billion / year.

          I also seriously doubt that Israel actually shares all, or even most, valuable intelligence that they have.

        • So Mister, what you’re saying is that it’s a bribe, and Israel isn’t interested in being our ally unless we pay them for it?

          I dont hate Israel but I don’t believe we need to continue giving them billions in aid that they obviously don’t need.

        • “Denying” implies it belonged to the original recipient in the first place. The only way that is possible is if they actually paid into the system, but by being on welfare (whatever it may be) is probable unlikely. But then again, I don’t believe welfare should be handled at all by the Federal Government.

          As for Israel, I realize that there is a seemingly inherent distortion with our relationship with them. But it’s hard to categorize the cost to benefit ratio of the relationship, because for one, it is not politically viable to do so. Having a fixed airbases or military presence in Turkey, Jordan, or Qatar doesn’t rile up the Arabs as much as having a well known presence in Israel will. But we do frequently do cross military training with the IDF. Besides intel on shared adversaries, Israel also shares a lot of computer, missile defense and other military technology with us, including the “unique” ability to field test new technology we share with them in an active combat environment (for example, they were the first to share information regarding the flaws in Patriot missile system and offered to patch the software).

          I’m not a special pleader for Israel, and I know they are one of the biggest allied spies on America (along with France). But living in that part of the world, I imagine they have little luxury in choosing where they need to focus their intelligence gathering capabilities on.

        • I think we can all agree that, at the very least, it’s not exactly strange to question the clearly special status that Israel enjoys in US foreign policies. I still think it’s far more likely that said status is a function of the very strong lobby that Israel has in Washington, rather than any tangible benefits that US derives from it, but either way, it’s not “crazy stuff” to have discussions like this.

  4. This article reads like a piece from the Onion. I love that on campuses with vehicle carry they recommend “not walking near parking lots.” Because on a hot day, some gun freak’s evil assault weapon might cook off and murder multiple innocent foreign/brown people!

  5. That’s the sort of critical thinking you get from the former ambassador to Peru and Mozambique.

    I guess Mr. Jett should have raised more money for whatever administration appointed him to those ambassadorial back waters – show them the money dude!

    It obviously takes Kennedy-level cash to get appointed to Japan for example so he obviously came up short in that regard.

    I’ve got to think that getting appointed as ambassador to Mozambique is basically some sort of career diplomat punishment.

  6. I hope they leave america if they are so afraid. The foreign money is keeping these liberal communist colleges a float.

  7. The key thing foreigners should take from this is that Penn State is not exactly an institute of higher learning. And perhaps that the people in Peru and Mozambique probably have a distorted view of America. That’s kind of funny when you think about it, our ambassador trying to convince people in Mozambique that we’re the violent ones!

  8. I know a Japanese guy that loves to come to Texas because he gets to shoot, real guns! He gets to carry a sword in Japan, but he has to have a license for it, but a real gun is pretty much just fantasy over there (unless you are police, military or Yakuza).

    BTW, almost every time I’ve been to Japan I’ve seen stories in the news of a shooting of some kind, usually looks like a Yakuza hit, but not always. Image that, even they still have gun crime.

    • All Yakuza carry, most don’t try to hide it, it’s a badge of authority. At least up to ’91, haven’t been there since.

    • I’ve seen and met quite a few visiting Asian (Japanese and Hong Kongese mostly) business-types at the local range, where they love renting the newest, blackest, scariest guns available. Their enthusiasm makes them pretty fun to talk to, and they take target scoring way serious on the line. Afterwards in the lounge and salesfloor, I’ve often heard them express a desire to relocate here permanently, simply because we can own & keep firearms with relatively few conditions.

    • I think that Japanese gun laws must have been influenced by our occupation policies. The war is long over. The Japanese government should life all gun buying restrictions. It would create an economic boom for the firearms industry.

      • Japan has a very long history of weapons control. Long before the current gun ban, they put restrictions on swords, if fact, that was one of the first things the Tokagawa did after uniting Japan, ban ownership of swords (and guns by that time) by anyone not working for or loyal to the Tokagawa government. Later after the Meiji restoration and the disbandment of the Samurai class, the public wearing of swords was banded as-well.

        The Japanese were a disarmed population for a couple of generations before WWII.

      • Japan is one of the world’s most statist states (which goes to show that it’s perfectly compatible with capitalism, by the way), with a very long history of government regulation of anything deemed even remotely dangerous to said government, including weapons of all kinds.

  9. The author is a professor of international affairs at Penn State and a former US ambassador to Mozambique and Peru. Let’s give him credit — he spent a lot of time and effort reaching his current level of idiocy.

  10. He is out of date as to California. As of January 1, the state banned concealed carry on campus, except with the express authorization of the principal, unless the firearm and the ammo are in a locked container. So no campus carry (except for cops and campus security). Regular people suffer the 1000 foot exclusion radius. Not that that stopped two Chinese international students from being gunned down by gangbangers just off of USC campus. Parenthetically, the school got sued for misrepresenting the safety of the campus and settled out of court.

    • Gee – sounds like an open market for the development of a biometric “Smart Holster.” Sort of like a regular retention holster, with an added fingerprint reader. Hopefully something that meets the letter of the law for “locked storage” but compact enough to hang off one’s belt.

      • Couldn’t the law be tested just by putting a padlock on a flap holster? That would make it portable safe storage. Just a guess.

  11. Phhhhhhhhht.

    I took my Malaysian and Japanese friends to the gun range and they loved it. They didn’t die. They like guns. And they like shooting guns at the range. They are not currently citizens yet – so they can’t buy any guns. They have decided not to go back to their home countries. Someday – they will be able to buy some guns. And yes – I’ll be there when it happens. I’m going to take a picture and send it to CSGV.

      • I believe you need a green card though. Permanent residency. Otherwise they’re just visiting foreign nationals.

        • Yes.
          Cannot overstay or otherwise fall out of status on their visa and become ‘illegal’. That is imparative.
          The Lawfully Admitted for Permanent Residency (green card) will open the door to gun ownership.

        • No, you do not need a green card to buy guns, at least not on federal level. State laws may differ, though SAF and ACLU have been working on suing those states that deny RKBA to non-citizens on 2A grounds, and some states have already revised their laws accordingly.

          Federal law puts more stringent requirements on “aliens admitted on nonimmigrant visa” (basically everyone without a green card) in that you need to be in a country for at least 90 days, and you need to provide a reason for the feds to allow you to own a gun. A hunting license issued by any state in the Union is considered valid justification (regardless of the type of license and the type of gun – you can have a “small game” license, and buy a .50 BMG rifle, for example). Conveniently, Alaska sells nonresident small game hunting licenses online for $20.

          When filling 4473, you check “yes” under 11.l and 12, and fill in 13-15 (15 is where I-94 admission number goes, not visa). Then you have to show that hunting license to the dealer, and they must write it down under 20c.

          When filling it in that way, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you won’t get an instant proceed and they will delay you, no matter how many guns you buy (I’ve purchased over 30 by now and I still get delayed every time).

          See here for more details:
          https://www.atf.gov/qa-category/nonimmigrant-aliens

      • I have another friend from Bangladesh. I did not take him to the range however. He was weary on going because his skin is brown, he has an “accent,” he’s kind of muslim (mostly), and his last name ends in “…ullah.” So he didn’t go. He was also afraid people would think he was a terrorist. Luckily he can’t vote – because he would probably vote for some tyrant socialist Democrat. I’m still working on him. The fact that when I showed him my gun collection he grabbed an AK, pointed it at my face, and said “BANG BANG” didn’t help. I immediately told him the gun tour was over. Again… I’m still working on him.

        I know another guy from Bangladesh who is muslim (US citizen) and very strongly pro-freedom. He has lots of guns and a fancy car, and even though the republican party is strongly islamophobian, he still votes for them.

        • “The fact that when I showed him my gun collection he grabbed an AK, pointed it at my face, and said “BANG BANG” didn’t help.”

          Yeah.

          I bet…

        • “No such thing as a practicing muslim who is pro-freedom.”

          Approximately an entire country of self proclaimed Muslim, AK toting, ‘never have nor ever will pay more than a a dime a dollar if that in “taxes”, nor “vote” for a single gun nor drug nor healthcare law nor bankster bailout whatsoever’ 11 year olds disagree with you…… While virtually an entire nation of “us” stand around cheering on a bunch of scum falling over each other trying to come up with more programs, taxes, debt, bailouts, restrictions, laws, lawsuits, bans etc., etc.

          America used to be the Shining City on the Hill, the Beacon of Freedom, blah, blah. And back when it was, there was no real hope for “Islamist,” nor any other, rabble rousers to rally much support behind hating “us.” Now, America is just another totalitarian shithole, no different from any other. Except “we”, as in not me and you, but the scum claiming to be our ‘leaders”, spend much more time meddling in the affairs of others.

    • If you’ve got cash, you can but pretty much anything in this world. Laws haven’t stopped the flow where there’s a market.

  12. Give me a break!

    I’d venture 9 out of 10 of the foreign students I met in college came from third world countries.

    Yeah, yeah, yeah, don’t come over because of the .0004% chance you might be killed with a gun. Just stay over there and hope you don’t starve to death or get Malaria.

  13. Wait a minute, okay I only read half of the article, but are they really suggesting that I shouldn’t do an exchange year in for example Texas, because of guns?[/sarc] Dammit my plans are ruined[/sarc].

    • I forgot to mention that one of the reasons I would like to do an exchange year in the US is because of guns. But money says that this will not happen.

      • Just pretend you’re Syrian. They’ll even pay your airfare.

        Sorry if that’s in bad taste to say to a German.

        • The year in the US depends on where you go and what you’re going to study. Tuition fee alone ranges between 4.000$ to 11.000$ per year and then comes living, food and other stuff.
          If I remember correctly tuition fee in Austin alone was 6000$.

      • @Germanguy

        Yes we have Aldi in the U.S., though they aren’t widespread. Only places I personally saw an Aldi was in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

        And yes, Aldi is known for cheap food, even here.

        There is another place called “Trader Joe’s” that I see a little more often, and is owned by Aldi, but caters to customers with a little more income. The quality of food you get at Trader Joe’s is, however, very good comparatively to other places with higher price tags.

    • If you are from Germany and go to school in the Midwest (such as Indiana), you probably will feel right at home being surrounded by German-Americans.

      • Heh, yeah. And there’s always Aldi. I love that place, where I can get most of the food I loved while living there. Well, except for the fresh käse, wurst, bröt, and flammkuchen that I got every friday at the marktplatz.

        • @indiana Tom: Yes, I’m from Germany, hence my nick.
          @anaxis: You gu ys have Aldi? Okay, here in Germany they stand for really cheap food and other stuff and for poor(er) people. How is that in the States?

        • Yeah, we have Aldi here. It’s certainly considered inexpensive – especially for produce and dry goods. It’s not considered a sign of being poor, though. Not by a long shot. Though most products are cheaper, their meats, though, are typically as expensive and sometimes more so than other shops here in the Midwest. Of course, out here, it’s not uncommon for people to by half or whole cows for the year. There’s lots of walking BBQ.

          For some things, though, Aldi is fairly well regarded. The do have an excellent coffee imported from Germany. I’d put it as better than Jacob, not quite as good as Douwe Egberts. Their Moser Roth chocolate is better than any standard American chocolate. It may not be Leonidas quality, but it’s as good as Cote d’Or. Certainly better than Ghirardelli. I’ve talked to many here and in the UK that swear by their wines, though I couldn’t speak to their beers and ales. Their milk and dairy are fine quality, as well.

  14. i don’t know any foreign students. OTOH I used to know a guy whose family left a charming Middle Eastern country for the US when he was a child due to religious persecution . As an adult in a very successful career, he moved from a northeastern city where guns were considered to only be the tools of career criminals, of which there were many, to a smaller southeastern community where guns were considered to be pretty much in the hands of … everyone. And so after learning and buying a shotgun he became a volunteer RSO at the local skeet range. Was proud that as a first generation immigrant to the US he had a key to a gun range(!) and could go any time he wanted. I moved and don’t know whether he ever ventured into more than the shotgun world, but many of his/our colleagues had handguns and AR’s, so I would not be surprised if he eventually became a more broadly involved POTG. Hopefully the foreign students who make the “mistake” of choosing a school in one of the “unsafe” states will have a similar positive experience here, and take that experience back to their home countries.

  15. While conducting a transfer at a Burbank, CA FFL recently, I witnessed a legal resident alien (likely a student by what I gleaned from the documents he was presenting) from either Taiwan or Hong Kong (or maybe even mainland China) who was taking possession of a gently used, PRK-legal, FN 2000.
    By his demeanor, he was not all too fearful for his survival………

  16. Ironically, international students will have already seen a large number of fully-automatic (black!) rifles in the their native country in public spaces such as bus routes, train stations and airports, and perhaps a few illicit ones in more nefarious locations.

  17. International students should just avoid the US altogether, I hear the University of Rwanda is looking for students to help support their economy. There’s that pesky issue of unregulated machete ownership, but at least there’re no scary statistics equating machete use with hom – er – genocide.

  18. Having married an international student (and many of my friends being international students) I think I can speak with some knowledge on this topic. My wife likes shooting and is better woth some of my guns than I am (despite growing up where guns are almost completely illegal). Most of my friends have enjoyed our trips to the range and wish they could buy some without getting kicked out of the country. None of the international students I know have no fear of guns (at least after they see what life is really like in the US) even though they are in a state that the article says they shoud avoid.

    • Very similar experience. Most of the Asian grad students I take shooting are only fearful out of ignorance and hype but have a much higher level of curiosity. Several were somewhat taken aback by the discounted (especially the women) between what they’ve been told about guns and what they actually experienced (it’s not scry at all!).

      One guy was ex-Taiwanese Army. He was really happy to get his hands on an AR, said that he really missed his M-16 (he was a little disappointed there was no select-fire on the AR).

  19. I can see where plenty of people from foreign countries would want to avoid U.S. universities in states that condone concealed carry (gasp!).

    There are also plenty of people in foreign countries who know how incompetent and unreliable police and “security” personnel can be … and how they are often even corrupt. Those people might actually like the idea of armed students who can “take care of business”.

  20. I took an MBA in a Florida University, with many other foreign students. We knew nothing about gun laws, but the fact that you could go to a range and rent a gun to have fun.
    Depending on our country of origin, we felt as safe or more than in our home countries. Nobody felt less safe, not even Germans, Dutchs or Italians, coming from countries with less homicides. Moroccans and Venezuelans felt safer.

  21. Weapons secured in vehicles are completely legal on-campus in Missouri, so long as they aren’t removed or brandished. Go figure that the writer of the original article couldn’t even get his facts straight.

    • Same with NM. Great research on the writers part. I guess expecting someone who hates guns to research gun laws is asking a lot.

  22. Yeah, it’s completely safe for foreign students to wander off the reservation at the University of Chicago or Tulane. This fool is going to get somebody killed.

  23. I think the list comes from terrorists, who have distributed it to help their kind avoid perforation prior to attaining 72 Virginians. TX, for instance, is not the safest place for jihadis, NYC or CA would be better. Islamic “students” and “refugees” might want to head there, too!

  24. Yeah, Idaho, pretty dangerous.

    It’s got potatoes, dairy, the furthest inland seaport on the West Coast and the second largest population of Mormons outside of Utah.

    Also, now I want Spaetzle. And finger steaks with cocktail sauce.

  25. Utah??? Wtf??? Utah?? With one of the lowest murder rates in the country??? what about Chicago, NYC, or Baltimore? And what about Latin American countries with strict gun laws and one third of the world’s murders?

  26. “There are nearly a million students from other countries” stealing the intellectual knowledge and property of the US. There would be NO “China miracle” it the US had not educated thousands of Chicom engineers.

    • “The US” has no “intellectual property” to steal. There never were, nor will ever be some collective “we”, “us” nor “them”, outside of childish collectivist fantasies. No “we” that educated “them.” No “them” that stole from “us.” Falling for that scam, just sets one up for becoming a government apologist sheep.

      90% of what gets passed of as “intellectual property” these days, are just systemic wealth transfers from productive people to lawyer rats and political donors.

      And, if “we” did help a bunch of Chinese get wealthier and hence better able to afford Iphones and vacations to Disneyworld in Boeing planes, that must have been about the only half useful thing “we” have done for the past half century or so. Even a broken clock….etc…

    • Look at the number of Eastern European (especially Russian and Russian-Jewish) last names in American universities and science labs. They’re “stealing” ideas by the thousands? Fine, but you were “stealing” people by the millions, and the irony is that many of those people are generating the “stolen” ideas.

      But hey, here’s an easy solution. Keep those Chinese students in US. That way, the commies in China have no idea and one less smart guy to work for them for pennies, and the capitalists in America have one more smart guy to hire and pay a hefty salary (which he’ll spend on hookers, blow, and other taxable expenses, funneling money into the local economy).

    • “…TTAG isn’t at SHOT Show?”

      Yes, they are. In force.

      The senseless slaughter of many finely-crafted hand-rolled cigars is happening on a daily basis.

      Scandalous, I tell you!

      Reports that some of them may or may not have been distracted by the 2016 AVN Adult Entertainment Expo (Also taking place on the Vegas strip) have not been confirmed…

      http://www.adultentertainmentexpo.com/

      *snicker*

  27. Back in grad school I had a couple visiting Australian fellows in my class and we got to talking about guns one day. When I mention something about the gun store I frequent they were flabbergasted. “What, you guys just buy guns in stores?!?!?”

    I was a bit stunned, too, and responded, “Well, yeah, where else do you buy them. Surreptitiously out of a trunk in a parking lot?”

    Neither of us had given it much thought either way.

  28. Nonetheless, since having a gun around triples the chances for a homicide or suicide, for your personal safety, it would be a good idea not to go to school in certain states.
    My daughter might actually like this as she does not get along very well with some of the lazy and promiscuous exchange students. Especially the ones from Brazil.
    Actually the Vietnamese students are OK.

  29. Or he could have just listed the campuses with the highest rates of violence, surely that would match his list of death states. No? Well then. Carry On gentleman.

  30. Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. are the most dangerous?

    What exactly about ZERO people ever having ever been shot by a legal concealed carrier on campus, ever once, makes them dangerous?

  31. All the interns in my group get taken shooting. Got the boss man into 3 gun and “boom” he puts a small pistol/shotgun range on his property. We take the interns shooting and all of them enjoyed themselves. We even shoot scary rifles.

    Another guy at work takes the Chinese nationals who come over for projects on “America day”. Diner food breakfast, shooting, cookout and beer. They universally love it.

    The author should not make everyone out to be a douce like himself. That’s discriminatory; bad professor, no tenure.

    • I guess Andrew. They’re not safe ON campus-especially on the westside. And to think I spent the night with a young lass there…I remember when my math wiz older brother spent the summer at 35rd and ghetto in the summer of 68′. Not long after the riots.

  32. I hope that you were talking about Utah when you were talking about powder skiing. Skiing is good in Colorado, but most of the state does not compare, when it comes to powder, with neighboring Utah. I have some glorious memories of powder skiing in Utah – the steep and the deep. You can ski stuff you would think was much too steep for you if it is deep enough. (I say this as a Colorado native who learned to ski there 55 years ago, and still have a season pass to CO resorts).

  33. “Some states allow guns to be kept in cars. Enroll in institutions in them only if you don’t intend to drive, ride in a car, or walk near a parking lot: “

    Stupid of this level should be painful.

    So, what is he asserting here…enroll there if you don’t intend to DRIVE? What, does he think that someone else is going to store a gun in YOUR car?

    And why would a gun KEPT in a car (stored in an unattended car) be a danger to you walking near a parking lot?

    Eeg. You have to TRY to be that dense.

  34. A few other tips for avoiding problems while in America. If you approach, or are approached by, law enforcement officers, always do so with your hands up and ask a friend to video the encounter. And finally don’t go near any borders or it will be assumed that you entered illegally.

    Don’t feed the trolls, don’t feed the trolls, don’t feed the trolls….

  35. I teach in a business school at a large university and during a lunch with a group of students, many of whom were Chinese (and, safe to say, from very comfortable upbringings), one of the American students asked what if China had a 2nd Amendment? Without skipping a beat, they all proclaimed that there would be a revolution in China.

    Very telling and very comforting (for me!).

  36. Anyone else think the bit about parking lots is the most absurd thing written here? Don’t go near a school parking lot or even drive to school in these states, there may be a gun within a 100 feet of you!!! Wow, talk about fear.

  37. I’m from Canada but I studied at UCSD. When I told some of the people in my dorm that I was into firearms and joked about how an M240B was on my Christmas wishlist, they looked at me with shock and horror. I was shocked that they were shocked.

  38. Like no one ever brought a gun on campus (or anywhere else) illicitly . . . You are so much safer that you (probably) won’t get shot at Northwestern just on the way there. Ditto for USC and a hundred other campuses.

    This seems very much like a political piece and not actual advice. If this is serious, then this guy needs his guy card revoked. You know many horny guys from around the world would brave Mogadishu for just average [insert crass word of choice for female genitalia]? Does he know that many students care more about the price of weed in a given city then their major – let alone the (sometimes) risk involved in scoring drugs? And how about the many seriously dangerous activities college students around the globe do every year while high? Drunk? Both? Sober?

    You want real danger – pass out in a frat house 🙂

  39. America doesn’t have a gun culture. America has an American culture. That culture includes guns and gun ownership and shooting, and always has.

    The United States, on the other hand, currently has an anti-American culture.

  40. My first gun purchase in Australia at 14 ( a few years ago) was in store most since have been private
    Tourists are shocked when they find out that my area famous for surf beaches has several gun shops and about 10 ranges. I used to love telling the English tourists that who thought we were as disarmed as them

  41. Oh man, and here I was thinking Louisiana, Missouri, Illinois, and Michigan were more dangerous than Idaho, Utah, and Colorado. Thanks qz.com for your brilliant analysis.

  42. If there are 88 guns for every hundred people, that does not mean that 88% of the people own guns. I know a lot of people who own guns, but I don’t know anybody who owns just one gun.

  43. And let’s not forget those few remaining states where guns on campus are prohibited by law and you will be relatively safer: Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wyoming.

    Open carry on campus, outside of budings, is not illegal in Ohio. We’ve done this with rifles and sidearms. Although, schools have policies against students carrying openly or concealed anywhere on campus.

  44. “these are the most dangerous states: Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.”

    ROTFLMAO at that.

    So whats the murder rate in those dystopian wastelands?

    • Exactly – he managed to pull three states with probably close to the LOWEST murder rates in the US as an example of “most dangerous”. I am too tired to pull up any research but I am willing to bet campus rapes, robberies and thefts are the lowest in those states as well. So in essence, those colleges and universities are probably are among the safest – certainly safer than any school in Chicago or New York City.

  45. Really? I would think they wouldn’t survive their education because rich Chinese kids with no sense of direction (or common sense of any form) wander aimlessly into East Cleveland at night.

  46. I heard of a school in Wyoming that all we and even encourages students to own guns an have them on campus. Wait till the mainstream media hears about that one

  47. Dennis Jett – Former US ambassador to Mozambique and Peru

    That’s all I needed to see. Another America hating Foreign Service Officer, who lived in a mansion, had a protective detail, drove in an armored car and was given a discretionary budget to travel, entertain and purchase whatever he needed to make his life more comfortable – telling foreigners how dangerous the US. Thanks dude.

  48. Same propaganda technique used when they try to “shame” schools, towns, or regions with lower vaccination rates…..the similarities never end.

  49. “Avoid Idaho? Spaetzle-loving German exchange students are going to be bummed.”

    What’s Idaho got to do with spaetzle? Spaetzle isn’t made from potatoes.

  50. I don’t see New Hampshire listed at all, that must mean it is the ideal state to go to college and be free from guns and liberty… oh wait.

  51. HaH! I was once an international student in America back in the mid-80s. New Hampshire. That’s where I bought my first firearm and learned to shoot. Made a lot of life-long friends. I also had a CCW permit. Everytime I returned to NH from an out of state drive, I instantly felt better seeing the “Bienvenue Welcome to New Hampshire” sign by the interstate, with emphasis on “Live Free Or Die”! It was fun to visit friends in MA, but I never felt at home. New York City I went once, then I avoided like the plague. Fast forward 30-odd years and I am a Lifetime NRA member despite not living in the United States. Live Free or Die!

  52. Articles like this crack me up because they show how academics fall for and then regurgitate debunked claims using the most common and well known statistical fallacies.

    eg: “Homes with guns are more dangerous.” This claim is made using the same exercise and case study in bad use of statistics we used to teach in Stats 101 classes — where you show that going to the hospital increase your chance of death 30 fold. Exclude those and remaining homes of gun owners are 20% to 25% safer than unarmed homes!

    The only way to invert that is to count all 20,000gun suicide as “caused by guns.” The peer reviewed work that looks at self caused death by full demographic indicates that the total annual US elevation is between 0.1% to 0.5% of those suicides, ie 20 to 100/year — not 20,000.

    When I was in grad school I was a T/A in Stats 101. In the first week we would introduce the undergrads to fallacies by “proving” that visiting a hospital for medical care was correlated with a >3,000% increase in death rates relative to the general population. About 20% of the students we so hopeless that they saw nothing wrong with that “proof” and about 70% knew something was wrong but could not express the fallacy. About 10% could.

    The problem, the cause of the fallacious result is assumption of a random data set when in fact a small group within that data set is the great majority of the deaths. they are a subset at extreme high risk and need to be controlled out of the data to see the real rate of positive or negative outcomes for the general population. Once you realize that 5% of those entering hospital for medical care are 90% of the deaths because that 5% has been run over by a an 18-wheel truck, or has terminal stage cancer and just contracted pneumonia and suffered a stroke as well , you understand why they are not the same as someone in the general population who has got the flu or got a hairline wrist fracture. The latter’s outcomes are improved by a hospital visit, yet I can statistically “prove” going there will kill you!

    It is the same with guns. In my schools state of NJ we looked at murder and neglect death in homes of gun owners who owned guns. North of 90% of the deaths were in homes of a discreet high risk group — criminals who owned illegal guns.

  53. “And let’s not forget those few remaining states where guns on campus are prohibited by law and you will be relatively safer: Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wyoming.”

    ALL those states are more dangerous than same-region similar demographic states with more guns.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here