Carry on campus?
Students say it's their right to have a gun
Eric Horne
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: News
Students at UNC Charlotte and campuses nationwide will go about their everyday activities April 21-25, but some will be wearing an empty gun holster.
The group "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus" (SCCC) has called an "Empty Holster Protest" concerning licensed gun holders' rights to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Jennifer Solesby is the representative for SCCC for UNC Charlotte and the coordinator for the Empty Holster Protest. She said licensed weapon holders should be able to carry whatever "would be covered by the concealed carry permit."
Mainly, that would include handguns. According to Solesby, the campus would be safer with qualified concealed carry students on campus: "Campus security does the best that they possibly can to provide security for the students on campus. They cannot do everything. They cannot be every place at one time. They cannot protect every student."
Major Maurice Keith, the Deputy Chief of Police for the University spoke with the UTimes about the "rapid deployment training" of University Police officers, the purpose of which is to prepare officers to confront a gunman.
Major Keith also talked about the University Police's partnership with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). "[They] can respond with multiple officers, SWAT and regular patrol officers to provide us [University Police]
assistance at a moment's notice."
Keith said that University Police can reach any area on campus within minutes: Where a CMPD officer has a patrol area of square miles, a University Police officer patrols square acreage. "I listen to the radio, and often the officers are on the scene in a couple of minutes."
Several students on campus spoke to the UTimes about the issue of concealed weapons on campus. Two friends, Latavia Holland and Lauren Cathey, were asked why people they knew would choose to acquire a permit: "Just to say that they can pull it out at any time, any given time if somebody approaches them," began Holland. Cathey continued, "Basically, if they get mad, be like, 'Well look homie, I got mine. What about you?'"
The group "Students for Concealed Carry on Campus" (SCCC) has called an "Empty Holster Protest" concerning licensed gun holders' rights to carry concealed weapons on campus.
Jennifer Solesby is the representative for SCCC for UNC Charlotte and the coordinator for the Empty Holster Protest. She said licensed weapon holders should be able to carry whatever "would be covered by the concealed carry permit."
Mainly, that would include handguns. According to Solesby, the campus would be safer with qualified concealed carry students on campus: "Campus security does the best that they possibly can to provide security for the students on campus. They cannot do everything. They cannot be every place at one time. They cannot protect every student."
Major Maurice Keith, the Deputy Chief of Police for the University spoke with the UTimes about the "rapid deployment training" of University Police officers, the purpose of which is to prepare officers to confront a gunman.
Major Keith also talked about the University Police's partnership with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD). "[They] can respond with multiple officers, SWAT and regular patrol officers to provide us [University Police]
assistance at a moment's notice."
Keith said that University Police can reach any area on campus within minutes: Where a CMPD officer has a patrol area of square miles, a University Police officer patrols square acreage. "I listen to the radio, and often the officers are on the scene in a couple of minutes."
Several students on campus spoke to the UTimes about the issue of concealed weapons on campus. Two friends, Latavia Holland and Lauren Cathey, were asked why people they knew would choose to acquire a permit: "Just to say that they can pull it out at any time, any given time if somebody approaches them," began Holland. Cathey continued, "Basically, if they get mad, be like, 'Well look homie, I got mine. What about you?'"
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