By John Lott
Right now once someone qualifies for a permit they can carry a concealed handgun with them virtually anywhere in a state except for a few designated gun-free zones. Prominent among those "protected" areas are universities and schools. Yet, twelve states, including two large ones, Texas and Florida, are currently engaged in the debate over whether to end these bans.
Fortunately, we don't need to speculate about what might happen. We actually already have a lot of evidence and experience from numerous campuses.
Seventy-one college campuses allow students with permits to carry concealed handguns, and many more let faculty carry, some for over a decade. But none -- absolutely none -- of these schools have experienced the type of harm predicted by opponents. Not a single permit holder on these campuses has been involved in a firearm accident or crime.
We also have extensive experience with permitted concealed handguns on campuses prior to the push for gun-free zones during the early 1990s. Back then, in the states that allowed concealed permitted handguns, students and professors frequently carried handguns, and there simply weren't any problems then either.
Permit holders have succeeded in stopping a wide range of multiple victim public shootings, at schools and elsewhere. Yet, so far there has not been a single incident where a permit holder has accidentally shot a bystander.
Americans have experienced over and over again what a failure gun-free zones have been. Chicago's and DC's murder and violent crime rates soared after their handgun bans were imposed and fallen after their bans ended.
No gun ban around the world that has produced a drop in murder rates. Gun-free zones are a magnet for crime of all kinds. In addition, even the strictest gun regulations or bans haven't stopped multiple victim public shootings from occurring.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2011/03/09/bans-carrying-concealed-weapons-lifted-college-campuses
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