PA Bill Number: HB335
Title: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons.
Description: In inchoate crimes, further providing for prohibited offensive weapons. ...
Last Action: Removed from table
Last Action Date: May 1, 2024
Media exaggerates student opinion on Texas campus carry :: 06/17/2015
Here in the great state of California, most young people shy away from guns; some are even afraid of them—unless, of course, they’re part of a video game like Grand Theft Auto.
For this reason, campus carry movements rarely gain momentum on the Left Coast. Student leaders prefer to push “diversity” and “inclusion” measures instead of the Second Amendment. Gun rights are not important to California’s young people, who would rather pat themselves on the back for being “progressive” than be able to defend themselves if their lives depended on it.
But that’s California. Sometimes you just have to suck it up in order to live in paradise.
However, it’s shocking to me to see how many Texas students have fought against the campus carry bill, which was recently signed into law by Governor Abbott. While, historically, gun rights may not resonate as much with Californians, the Second Amendment is a way of life for Texans.
According to a survey by the University of Texas and Texas Tribune, nearly half of all Texans own at least one gun, or a family member owns one. Out of those who owned guns, 44 percent owned between two and five of them. In addition, 44 percent said that “protection” was the reason why they owned them. Undoubtedly, Texans feel comfortable around guns, and many feel unsafe without them.
So why are Texas student leaders so outraged by the legislation? A movement against gun rights seems so foreign to the state, and so countercultural. Sure Texas has had its influx of out-of-staters, but they could not have changed its demographics that much in recent years.
It all boils down to a loud minority who really hate guns. Whether they’re transplants or homegrown pacifists, they are all gun grabbers who believe that the country would be better off if its citizens were stripped of their guns.
A recent letter against the legislation, signed by student leaders from 13 Texas universities, only bolsters this point. One part of the letter reads, “Not all university campuses are identical; they have different cultures, needs and beliefs.”
Since when was the issue about any of these things? The sole purpose of campus carry is protection. Isn’t that a universal need? Why would a difference of cultures or beliefs have anything to do with the legislation? It doesn’t affect gun rights elsewhere in the state. Why should anyone’s rights end when they step foot on a college campus?
While the students argue that they are not taking a stand on campus carry, a recent article from San Antonio Express-News reveals their ingrained anti-gun beliefs.
As Ileana Gonzalez, the UTSA Student Government Association president told the paper: “We know that our campuses don’t want it, [and] we don’t need it, because of the environment it would create. Instead of being a learning environment, it would just add on [sic] our stress level.”
Texans stressed out about guns? Puh-lease. The sight of guns is all-too-familiar in the Lone Star State. Is Gonzalez that blind to the reality of her own state?
The sad truth is that most student leaders take on issues that they really don’t know much about in order to puff themselves up, enhance their résumés, and gain the approval of professors and administrators. While many students on campus don’t care one way or another if guns are allowed on campus, loud “progressives” always seem to capture the imagination of the media, which gives these students the attention they desire.
Fortunately, it looks like all the hype did nothing to stop the momentum of this bill. With Governor Abbott eagerly pushing for gun rights, perhaps progressives on campus should work to ban pop tart guns instead.
http://www.guns.com/2015/06/17/media-exaggerates-student-opinion-on-texas-campus-carry/
