Editor,
I am writing this letter in support of Jean Aragon's letter promoting concealed carry on campus that was published Monday. On Wednesday, Greg Gomez had a letter in the Daily Lobo stating firearms on campus will do more harm than good. With all due respect to his opinion, he could not be more wrong.
No one knows what goes through a person's head when he or she decides to indiscriminately start killing people, but I think most reasonable people would assume the person to be unbalanced or mentally deficient. The problem stems from the fact that although a person may be mentally unbalanced, it does not mean he or she is stupid. If a person has actually come to the unfortunate decision to randomly shoot people, it follows that that person has put a lot of thought into the decision, no matter how convoluted it is. Any would-be shooter knows he will come to the point where he will have to deal with the police. However, the relevant issue is not whether the criminal will be stopped by the police, because, eventually, he will be. The issue is how many people will die or be injured before the police can stop him.
While I agree with Gomez that our campus police are trained to respond to this type of situation and would do so well, the other side of the coin is that when seconds count, the police are minutes away. Despite the excellence of our campus police, they can't be everywhere all the time. Common sense dictates that a potential shooter knows that as well, and, unfortunately, the shooter will be the one to pick the time and place. It is also common sense to assume the shooter will pick a location where the average citizen doesn't have the right to defend him or herself, like a school. Gomez states that concealed carry is illegal in bars, and it should be. Clearly, people who drink alcohol should not drive or handle firearms. But since alcohol is not allowed on campus, that is not an issue here.
In every state where concealed carry has been instituted, the crime rate has dropped. That alone shows that criminals now know they have to contend not only with police but also with citizens who don't want to be victims because they can't have a police officer follow them around all day. It is in fact because of that reason, along with the Second Amendment, that we have the right to carry firearms and defend ourselves.
The good intentions of the police have never been in question. The question is: Can the police guarantee they can stop the assailant before someone is killed? The answer is no, they can't.
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Gomez talks about how an armed citizen brandishing a gun does not make a situation safer, and, for this reason, I would encourage him to take a concealed-carry class for educational purposes, whether he ever carries a gun or not. To begin with, a licensed-carry person does not brandish a gun and, in fact, goes to great lengths to conceal the fact he or she has one. Secondly, if a licensed carrier actually pulls his or her gun, you can bet the situation has already reached the point of not being safe. Personally, if someone were shooting at me on campus, I would much prefer someone shoot the gunman than leave me defenseless while he or she makes a phone call.
In closing, concealed carry is now allowed on campuses in Texas. Only time will tell if it helps to avoid a large tragedy, but based on national statistics it will. Meanwhile, I hope the next mentally unbalanced shooter doesn't realize that the odds against him in Texas just increased significantly and so decide to come to UNM where he will get more bang for his buck.
Larry H. Crum
UNM staff
