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Opinion

UH should be up in arms over arms

Ryan Loyd
Guest Columnist

Suppose you are coming out of a class one evening and walking to your car, deep in one of the economy lots, or any lot far from any building for that matter. A strange looking person approaches you asking for some directions. 

All of sudden they pull a gun or a knife on you and ask for all your valuables. If you do not comply, they threaten to kill you. 

However, what this criminal does not know is that you have legally obtained a concealed handgun license, and you happen to have it on your person. Quickly, you are able to "neutralize the threat," by force if necessary. You may or may not have killed the armed robber, but it will be declared self-defense in any case.

What is special about this scenario is that it could never legally take place on our campus. Sure, you could get robbed at gunpoint one night, or you could get viciously assaulted at your campus apartment one night. However, according to school rules, we, as law-abiding students, do not have the right or the means to defend our lives in the proper manner. But a criminal can easily walk on campus with a weapon and threaten our lives. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

Personally, I have a concealed handgun license, but to carry it on campus would be a gross violation of school policy. If caught, I would probably be arrested, given a student life referral, and most likely, kicked out of school and prosecuted by the University. But what happens if a criminal gets caught with a deadly weapon on UH grounds? They simply get arrested and charged. Students have more to lose by taking a chance at protecting ourselves. 

It does not seem just that we should have to risk so much as a student in order to protect out lives. It also is not fair that we should have to risk our lives simply to be a student at UH. This campus is not in the best part of town to begin with. I doubt that anyone would disagree with this statement. Anyone can just come onto our beloved campus and attack us at will. 

This has happened to two of my friends in the last year alone. One was robbed at gunpoint, and the other was attacked outside of his apartment at Cullen Oaks. It seems more common to read the crime report in the Daily Cougar and find some violent act committed by someone who does not even attend this school. Just last fall, there were a string of robberies on campus, most of them at gunpoint. Even more disconcerting is that one happened just 100 yards from the police department.

I am all for being a law-abiding student, which is why I do not tempt fate by trying to bring a weapon on campus. However, I also very much enjoy being alive. Sounds crazy, I know, but I would like to graduate from here without being robbed or assaulted. True, the chances are very small of this ever happening, but I would rather have the ability to protect myself. By having a concealed handgun license, the state of Texas has given me the right to protect my own life, and the lives of others in almost any setting. Why should a public university be any different?

The campus police do a great job at keeping crime rates down and responding to calls, but they cannot be every place at every moment of the day. We also have plenty of security cameras around the campus. But if I get robbed and killed one night walking to my car, I can assure you that I am not going to care that the suspect was caught on film committing the act. That won't bring me back from the dead.

I simply do not want myself, or any of my fellow students, to be a victim of violent crime on our campus. 

We should have the ability to defend our lives by any means necessary. This rule should be changed very quickly. It only requires adding the phrase "unless you have a valid concealed handgun permit" to the current school policy. And I'm sure the state legislature would have to be involved in order to give us the OK. 

Unless the school has the funds to put up a large fence around the campus that will restrict access to our campus, they should change the policy. 

It is unlikely that this will ever happen for obvious safety and political reasons. 

Students will simply have to live with the fear of a possible attack. It is simply the nature of the beast.

Some critics may say that by doing this, we would be opening up the school to more violence. The truth is that it would most likely be the opposite. When Texas passed the concealed handgun law, crime rates actually went down. 

If it were made public news that license holders would be able to carry their guns on campus, this would likely deter would-be felons from venturing on our campus to attack because they know there are armed students.In addition, you must pass a background check in order to get a license, so at least you know holders are upstanding citizens for the most part. 

If someone could give me one valid reason on why this policy should not changed, I would gladly entertain it.

All in all, I may be a little biased. I have worked in law enforcement as an intern before, both with local and federal agencies. I have seen the worst that humans are capable of. You may read this and say to yourself, "Oh this guy is just a gun happy, over anxious, trigger happy Texan." But when you need something and don't have it, you sing a different tune. I have no desire to become a statistic. Do you?

Loyd, a guest columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu