Law Students With Guns (In Class)

Apparently there is a national movement supporting the rights of students to pack heat on college campuses.  (It's called SCCC - Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.)  Villanova law students are at the vanguard of this trend, according to news accounts.  I fancy myself a Second Amendment moderate - I believe in a well-regulated right to bear arms - but I'm not at all excited about having armed students in class.  For one thing, it changes the dynamic of a classroom when any odd turn during Property immediately creates the risk of armed conflict. And the possibility that students might be packing also puts a crimp in certain interesting classroom techniques - such as the famous surprise interloper who makes a dramatic entry (and departure) at the beginning of a criminal procedure class on eyewitness identification.  (I've avoided these techniques ever since I discovered several years ago that, notwithstanding campus rules, some students already do carry in class.)

Frankly, I'm not convinced that a well armed student body will make us safe from incidents like Virginia Tech or Northern Illinois.  It's not like those shooters are rational actors open to deterrence.  And I'm doubtful that having a flock of fellow students returning fire would be a net benefit.  It's one thing to arm commercial pilots.  Many of those folks have serious military training and pilots are uniquely exposed to risk.  If we take seriously the right of students to bear arms in school, I know I'll worry that my classes are filled with weapons - but not necessarily people with the skills and judgment to use them appropriately.

Comments

[Calvin Massey]

Amen, Dan.

[Calvin Massey]

Amen, Dan.

[David S. Cohen]

When I read about the Villanova students in the paper last week, I had similar thoughts. What a scary idea - teaching in a classroom with some students carrying firearms. Talk about a sitting duck!

[Kathleen A. Bergin]

Last year I was the subject of an internet blog in which two supposedly anonumous students casually discussed the sale of a firearm, and made light of the possibility that one might contemplate using it against me. Im still here, so I take it the post was in meant to be funny, perhaps among insiders but not to me obviously. It was, and is still, destabilizing. Im shaking and out of breath even writing this measly comment.

The prospect of arming students with weapons is something reasonable people cannot debate. We can pretend it would be different, but teachers simply cannot teach, and students simiply cannot learn, "not knowing" if someone is armed. And therin lies the problem. "Not" knowing.

[John Satclaire]

The "risk of armed conflict" is already present, as the ease with which armed killers have recently entered classrooms filled with helpless victims demonstrates.

[John Satclaire]

"Talk about a sitting duck!"

Interesting observation, Mr. Cohen: that's precisely how those of us who are trained and licensed to carry a concealed handgun feel as we ponder the possibility of an armed attacker showing up while we are sitting in a classroom with no windows and one door.

[John]

This movement is not arguing that all students should be allowed to carry guns on campus. It is only arguing that citizens who are able to obtain a concealed weapon permit should be able to carry their guns on campuses just everywhere else (supermarkets, malls, etc.).

And well as far as your pilot analogy goes...shooting a gun on an airplane would most likely destroy the plane due to the compression of the cabin. The very high likelihood that a bullet would should through the cabin walls makes that a very dumb idea.

[why we should have guns]

Well, for one thing, professors will be scared to brainwash us into mindlessly worshiping their political beliefs if they know that the Federalist society members are packing heat.

Otherwise, we'll get a group of well-to-do law students releasing terrorists all over the US while interning at the ACLU, and the corresponding nuclear attack.

Yes, Guns on Campus: GOOD FOR AMERICA

[Anonymous Student]

Shooting a gun on a plane would NOT likely destroy the cabin due to decompression- You've seen too many hollywood renditions.

Mr. Filler, even if students DID carry in school, you would theoretically not know, hence the "concealed" part.

Especially with the random beating that happened yesterday on the subway, it makes one glad to know that we have an armed citizenry to defend ourselves against criminals who would beat us to death for no reason, or to shoot up a school. Surely you've heard of the Appalachian Shooting?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_School_of_Law_shooting
Or perhaps you've heard about any one of the slayings that have been stopped by the citizens of the country that brought us the Desert Eagle?

I understand the professor's apprehensions here, but at the same time, are you SURE that students aren't already carrying to class every day?

Who is going to be the first target when a gunman intent on killing people waltzes into a classroom- one of the 100 random students sitting down, or the professor standing in front of the class. THAT is a "sitting duck", Mr Cohen. You should take comfort in the fact that some of your students may be at the ready to defend you at the moment when you find yourself helpless and defenseless.

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What's with students bringing guns or weapons to school?
What is wrong with our society!!!! Our world is going to hell in a hand-basket!!!