Bearing Arms On College Campuses

Today's New York Times ran a front page story about students seeking the right to carry guns on public college campuses.

Something else I ran across today:

“No student shall, within the precincts of the University, introduce, keep or use any spirituous or vinous liquors, keep or use weapons or arms of any kind, or gunpowder, keep a servant, horse or dog, appear in school with a stick, or any weapon …"

That was the rule when the University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson.

I don't present this as an argument for or against the right to carry at college, but I wonder why they forbade any weapon of any kind on the campus. Not even a stick was permitted. Didn't they recognize the need for self-defense in Latin class?

 

Comments

[freddie]

Haad a kid tucked a pistol, loaded, under his pillow when I went to college...scary. But more to the point: why is it that the army, issuing rifles to trainees, does not allow them bullets for those rifles unless they are on special guard duty, ie, as in my case, rifle range at Ft Dix, where there were know wild dogs.

If we need guns to make us safer, then note that the US has about more guns than any nation and yet more killings than any other nation.

[liberty]

Actually, we do not have more killings than any other nation.

[A Bear]

That seems unfair to students that might have a valid reason for carrying arms.
I recall a story that as a young man writing exams for his law degree, Saddam Hussein would place his handgun on his desk beside his test papers.
He explained doing this as it helping him to relax during this stressful time, allowing him to achieve quite high test scores.