Campus Carry Gun Rights: Can firearms make campuses safer?
Ann Arbor resident Joshua Wade is suing The University of Michigan over the school’s policy banning firearms. Wade was denied a permit to openly carry a firearm on campus and feels that this is a clear violation of not only Michigan State Law but more importantly The Second Amendment. The university policy “prohibits the possession of firearms, dangerous weapons or dangerous knives on campus or at events.”
“Mr. Wade lives and works in Ann Arbor and is often near the U-M campus,” his attorney, Steven Dulan, told the Free Press. “He wants to make it clear that U-M must comply with state law.”
“The university will vigorously defend its right to regulate weapons on campus to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff, patients, health-care providers, and hundreds of thousands of visitors, and to foster a supportive learning environment where students and faculty can feel free to explore challenging topics without fear of violence,” U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in an email to the Free Press.
Wade also spoke with Fox News and said a repeal of the concealed carry ban could actually make campuses safer by reducing chances of campus sexual assault. He referenced a study released by the university in June, which found about 20 percent of female undergraduates say they experienced non-consensual sexual behavior in the past year according to Sanya Mansoor of The Christian Science Monitor.
Looking at sexual assault statistics on college campuses I think it is important to give women any and all options we can when it comes to defending themselves. Defensive gun use has proven in many cases to be the best response to these horrific attacks and theses schools which deny women this fundamental and Constitutionally preserved right need to be held responsible for the attacks.
Wade has an uphill battle here when it comes to fighting the university over policies which they have created, but it is time for these institutions to rethink their positions on firearms as a viable means of self-defense on campus. The schools could benefit from offering self-defense classes on campus, perhaps a university endorsed firearm training course could help set these schools minds at ease.
