Students gathered yesterday to fight for the right to defend themselves by carrying concealed weapons on campus.
UT Students for Concealed Carry on Campus held a rally this week on campus, led by campus leader Matt Rubin, a freshman majoring in political science and public administration.
This is the second national collegiate Empty Holster Protest, and it focused on educating students and faculty on the facts of concealed carry laws, Rubin said.
"We're wearing empty holsters to symbolize that students do not have the right to carry [weapons] on campus and [at] most colleges, and we think that it's unfortunate. And it's something we'd like to see change," he said.
The holsters were donated by various groups, organizations and people who support this cause.
Currently, Colorado State University, Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia and all nine public colleges in Utah allow concealed carry on campus.
"It has been proven that conceal carry holders have better accuracy than police officers because they have more practices and are actually more dedicated," Rubin said.
Among the requirements to obtain a Concealed Carry License are that the individual has to be at least 21 years old, have a background check and mandatory training sessions.
"Even though you can be trained to certain circumstances, it doesn't exactly mean you're exactly ready to handle it," said Grace Engel, a freshman majoring in English.
UT Police Chief Jeff Newton stated his strong stance against this cause.
"I believe there should be no guns on campus," he said.
"The Conceal Carry Movement itself started about 25 years ago," said Brian Patrick, an associate professor in communication, who added that Ohio had passed the law in 2004.
There's approximately three to four million people licensed nationally, and concealed carry laws work and seem to be benign, he said.
"The killers are not people who go through training programs, [people] who had passed background checks, who are organized, socially aware, who are good people who passed these programs," Patrick said. "They are a carefully selected lot."
"The empirical evidence shows that people can be trusted to do this. They are not fools; they are not killers. Dodge City does not happen, and you can't ignore there's 20 years of statistical empirical proof," he said.
Patrick said there are a lot of these vivid, imaginative scenarios of Dodge City - gun fights in the streets - but these have never happened anywhere.
Newton thinks the arguments in favor of concealed carry on campus are flawed.
"If you look at specific incidents like Northern Illinois and Virginia Tech, one could argue that if someone has a weapon available, they could have limited the amount of damage done. However, if you look at the picture more broadly and think about all the incidents of violence that could occur throughout the course of the year, it may not be [on] such a mass scale," Newton said.
"The other people just have concerns, and I value their concerns, but some of these are kind of lurid. It seems like they watch TV, and they equate the presence of a gun with violence immediately," Patrick said. "It's like a gun is a symbol of evil."
"Our goal is to get people who already have concealed carry license to be able to carry on campus as they do everywhere else, such as public buildings and movie theaters," said Andrew Jones, a member of UT's SCCC and a freshman in mechanical engineering.
"It's a human right to protect your life and to protect the lives of others," he said.
He added he will apply for a license once he turns 21.
"If anybody who is qualified to carry a concealed weapon [and have a gun] is in my class, it doesn't bother me. I trust my students and have no objection to other professors doing so," Patrick said.
"The choice should be up to the individuals and not the administrative entity," he said. "Will it bring the violence down? Maybe not, but it won't hurt it."
"I believe that concealed carry on campus would be a good idea, it's a personal defense issue," said Neil Spurgeon, a freshman majoring in computer science and engineering technology.
The application fee costs about $100 to $200, depending on the state - there's fingerprinting and training. The license is good for about three years, varying from state to state, he said.
Spurgeon said that carrying concealed weapons on campus can help prevent petty crimes more so than mass shootings.
Newton countered Spurgeon's theory.
"There are an awful lot of theft reports of book bags and things unsecured and even locked in the Student Recreation Center, and I would hate to think that some of these stolen items might end up being hand guns," Newton said.
"I still think the answer for violence on campus is not more guns," Newton concluded.
However, Patrick on the other hand "predicted that 10 or 20 years from now, most campuses will say, 'Yeah, sure, why not, this doesn't hurt anyone.'"
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