Editor,

Do you feel safe on campus?

Now I understand that we have New Britain cops stationed on our campus and they do a great job, but they cannot be everywhere, all the time. That would just be improbable.

Many of you do not know about the crimes, some of them violent, that occur on this campus. Often most rapes are not recorded as the victim does not want anybody to know what happened to them. Lately there has been an increase in ‘e-mail crime alerts’ on campus. To me, this shows an indicator that we are not safe from exterior threats. There is no magical gate that differentiates between college campuses and public land. Which begs the question of how do we protect ourselves? How can students, faculty and staff protect themselves from anybody that wants to do us harm?

As it stands today, the state of Connecticut allows citizens, who have a permit to carry a firearm, to carry their personal firearms in most areas (barring post offices, government buildings, public K-12 schools, etc) but Central and other schools have regulations that state that you cannot possess a firearm on their campus, marking it a “Gun-Free Zone”.

When I hear the term “Gun-Free Zone” I chuckle, because there really is no such thing. To clarify, a “Gun-Free Zone” is intended to bar any and all firearms from a specific location (with exceptions for the police). Basically it is a sign that says “Nobody here has a gun, we are all completely defenseless, come attack us.” It is an invitation. I firmly believe that “Gun-Free Zones” do not work.

Let us take a look back at shootings that have unfortunately occurred in the past (mall shootings, Virginia Tech, Columbine, etc). It obviously didn’t work then, so who is to say that it is ever going to? I am part of an organization called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC). We believe that allowing permit holders to be able to carry their firearms on campus will decrease the incidence of campus crime. It has been proven that more guns in the hands of law abiding citizens has a direct correlation to a decrease in crime (such as Utah State allowing campus carry, which resulted in the decrease of campus crime).

I am not advocating that every student be handed an M-9 when they register for classes. Rather, all I am asking for is that permit holders who already carry on a daily basis be allowed to continue carrying while attending classes. This is not going disrupt classes or even be noticeable, as it is concealed carry. Meaning that nobody else knows that you are carrying; it is not something that is seen. The permit holder will have their gun in a holster, safely away from the public eye.

What you may not know is that in Connecticut tw0 to 10 percent of the population carries, which means that when you go do your shopping at Stop & Shop or gas up your car at Shell there are people carrying their own personal firearms around you, and you don’t know it, nor does it affect you in any way or even put you at risk for that matter.

During the week of April 4 there will be students walking around with empty holsters visibly on their body to show that all we have to protect ourselves with is an empty holster. We cannot fill it with a means to protect our lives against deadly force. These participants will be involved in the National Empty Holster Protest.

This will be the third year that Central will be part of this nationwide event that is put on by SCCC. It is done through Central’s own Riflery and Marksmanship Club, which will be going into its fourth year in the fall.

For those of you who are interested in joining, we meet every Tuesday at 7 p.m. Check our Facebook club (Riflery and Marksmanship) or contact [email protected] for more information.

Sara Adler
President of the CCSU Riflery and Marksmanship Club