I'd feel much safer knowing that some of the good guys on campus would be carrying weapons, instead of only the bad guys (who ALWAYS have the option of carrying weapons ANYWHERE, because they don't observe laws). I'm no longer a student, but I do carry a weapon these days. I would've back then, had it been an option. I'd rather be alive and defending my actions in court than to be the subject of a memorial service.

Whatever one's opinion about firearms, consistency should be applied. What is it about a university campus that makes it so different from anywhere else?

1. Alcohol? What are 18, 19, and 20-year-old persons doing drinking, anyway? Pursuant to the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984, most states have prohibited anyone under 21 from purchasing and/or publicly possessing alcoholic beverages. Also, don't most universities prohibit alcohol on campuses as a matter of school policy, even for those of legal drinking age (not that I agree with that policy)? Besides, Americans don't stop drinking just because they graduate. I've witnessed more drinking by the 30 to 50 crowd than I ever saw in college.

2. Immaturity? 18-year-old citizens can vote, join the armed forces, drive by themselves, seek full-time employment, have consensual sex, marry, and own handguns (18 is the federal minimum age; some states use 21). Whatever age we consider adulthood, be it 18 or 21, we should expect young adults to behave as such, and they have a reasonable expectation to be treated as such by the rest of us. If a person is legally old enough to own and carry a weapon (specifically, a handgun), and has done whatever is legally required to carry a weapon (I'll avoid the constitutionality of permit requirements for now), then that person should be able to carry a weapon on a university campus, in a public park, in a restaurant or bar, at the office, etc. Why have a carry permit, let alone the right to keep and bear arms, if you can't carry a weapon in most places where you're likely to need one?

The irrational fear of having firearms in the hands of adults on campuses is no different than the irrational fear of the presence of firearms and other weapons elsewhere in society. To suggest that campuses are somehow special doesn't make sense. Minors and adults should be held to different standards, but once one becomes an adult, all of the rights attributed to an adult should be available to that adult, wherever he goes (private property excluded). If an adult acts irresponsibly, or even criminally, that individual should be held accountable, regardless of whether that person's acts were committed on-campus or off-campus.