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SecularMotion

(7,981 posts)
Sat May 28, 2016, 06:30 AM May 2016

I知 A Black Female College Professor in Texas. Should I Get a Gun?

When I return to the University of North Texas for the fall semester, I’ll have no way of knowing who is carrying a firearm. As of August 1, students, faculty, and staff with concealed weapon permits may carry guns on public university campuses, under a law approved last year.

I’m a black female professor working in a Texas town with a prominent Confederate memorial. I teach journalism courses that spark debate about race, gender, and nationality. I have serious reservations about campus carry.

Proponents of the new law claim that if more people are armed at institutions of higher learning, we will all be safer. Days after he signed the bill, Governor Greg Abbott declared that would-be shooters in Texas would now understand that “somebody is going to be watching them and have the ability to do something about it” if they open fire on a college campus.

But I don’t feel safer. The idea of working in an environment where anyone may have a gun makes me feel perpetually under threat. I’m afraid of accidents, mostly, but also of misplaced anger and emotional distress. I’m afraid that situations that occur every day on college campuses, like a classroom debate or an office visit about grades, will escalate into deadly shooting.

https://www.thetrace.org/2016/05/black-female-college-professor-texas-campus-carry-gun/
22 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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I知 A Black Female College Professor in Texas. Should I Get a Gun? (Original Post) SecularMotion May 2016 OP
She's going to be ankle deep in the blood of the innocent just Press Virginia May 2016 #1
No need to buy a gun SmittynMo May 2016 #3
She doesn't need to move, just act in her own best interests. Eleanors38 May 2016 #21
The condition she's worried about was already true. Jester Messiah May 2016 #2
Take responsbility for your own safety LiberalNotLibertine May 2016 #4
Did you even read the article before responding? SecularMotion May 2016 #5
Excellent reply. ileus May 2016 #8
Excellent post. Welcome to DU. Kang Colby May 2016 #16
I like her thinking when it comes to carrying as part of black liberation. She also comes to Brickbat May 2016 #6
I recommend taking advantage of your new 2A rights. ileus May 2016 #7
She actually believes gun free zones work? And admits it? And is a professor? Nuclear Unicorn May 2016 #9
Should she get a gun??? S_B_Jackson May 2016 #10
"...I値l have no way of knowing who is carrying a firearm" krispos42 May 2016 #11
Texas already has 826 thousand Concealed Carry License holders. mackdaddy May 2016 #12
Those are the registered ones TeddyR May 2016 #13
The prof needs to educate herself. ManiacJoe May 2016 #14
I would have to advise no. sarisataka May 2016 #15
I agree SecularMotion May 2016 #17
How would you do that? TeddyR May 2016 #20
Nor teach. beevul May 2016 #18
I have been teaching college for over 30 years. Straw Man May 2016 #19
I taught com college for three years. No problems. Eleanors38 May 2016 #22
 

Press Virginia

(2,329 posts)
1. She's going to be ankle deep in the blood of the innocent just
Sat May 28, 2016, 06:34 AM
May 2016

like everywhere else CCW holders are allowed to carry

 

Eleanors38

(18,318 posts)
21. She doesn't need to move, just act in her own best interests.
Sun May 29, 2016, 02:45 PM
May 2016


She can best decide what steps to takeor her own safety.
 

Jester Messiah

(4,711 posts)
2. The condition she's worried about was already true.
Sat May 28, 2016, 06:36 AM
May 2016

It was already true that anyone around her might have had a gun. While it's true that the total number of guns may go up under the new rules, the greatest rise will be in the number of legit guns. Logically, her worries should ease. But if she is still that worried, then I think the answer to her question is yes. Take responsibility for your own protection.

4. Take responsbility for your own safety
Sat May 28, 2016, 07:35 AM
May 2016

The police do not have any obligation to protect any specific individual, only the public at large. This from the 2005 SCOTUS decision of Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales.

Taking responsibility for your own protection has not only been prudent, but necessary. Though I wouldn't so much be concerned for trained and lawful gun owners, even college students, as much as the number of muggers and rapists on the street. However, if a student becomes overly emotional during a classroom debate or an office visit over grades, the ability to verbally deescalate a situation is not only a valuable skill to have on a college campus, but for life.

Too many people predict that an influx of guns will result in blood flowing in the streets. The objective evidence to date has yet to prove that assertion. Gun free zones are target rich environments of soft targets. Don't "feel" safe, but take actions to be safe. Have a plan to do so. I don't care if you're black. I don't care if you're female. I don't care if you're an academic. None has any bearing upon your personal responsibility to take care of yourself.

Get trained on how to handle a firearm safely and properly. Get a firearm that you are capable of shooting, and continue to practice and get comfortable with it. Know how to approach someone that isn't handling their firearm in a responsible manner.

Brickbat

(19,339 posts)
6. I like her thinking when it comes to carrying as part of black liberation. She also comes to
Sat May 28, 2016, 07:59 AM
May 2016

the right conclusion -- if she doesn't know what her own response would be to ambiguous situations and doesn't feel she could live with her actions, she shouldn't carry. It would be interesting to know if she ends up at least taking a class or two.

ileus

(15,396 posts)
7. I recommend taking advantage of your new 2A rights.
Sat May 28, 2016, 08:39 AM
May 2016

Don't worry about all that other BS, that's just unfounded fear talking.


Carry on...

S_B_Jackson

(906 posts)
10. Should she get a gun???
Sat May 28, 2016, 09:36 AM
May 2016

Ultimately she - and all other individuals - must find this answer for herself. If she decides that she should, then I am quite happy that she will be able to do so without the state throwing up arbitrary and capricious roadblocks to her rights as law-abiding citizen to do so.

If she decides she should get a gun, I would urge her to approach that decision seriously and to get proper safety training classes by a certified instructor - and to make it a habit to shoot regularly to maintain her awareness. If she decides to carry a firearm, then I would hope that she would further her training by taking advanced level training courses - and to practice those additional learned skills so that they become habit.

I know that over the last 15 years that the numbers of minorities - and women - who are seeking permits and training have been visibly increasing and in the last recertification class for my CHL that over half of those seeking an initial permit about 1/3rd were women, and all but of them most were AA or Hispanic.

krispos42

(49,445 posts)
11. "...I値l have no way of knowing who is carrying a firearm"
Sat May 28, 2016, 10:19 AM
May 2016

In other words, it will be like every other day in her life, past, present and future.



Threatening with a gun, regardless of the legality of the person carrying it, remains illegal. The patronizing aside attitude towards legal adults remains disgusting.

mackdaddy

(1,578 posts)
12. Texas already has 826 thousand Concealed Carry License holders.
Sat May 28, 2016, 10:51 AM
May 2016

Plus all of the thousands of armed on and off-duty law enforcement officers.

These people are already all around you.

http://www.legallyarmed.com/ccw_statistics.htm

 

TeddyR

(2,493 posts)
13. Those are the registered ones
Sat May 28, 2016, 03:33 PM
May 2016

Correct? So many hundreds of thousands more who aren't registered.

ManiacJoe

(10,136 posts)
14. The prof needs to educate herself.
Sat May 28, 2016, 03:38 PM
May 2016

CCW requires one to be 21 or older. That rules out 7/8 of traditional students.
Does she fear an armed staff and faculty that much?

sarisataka

(20,896 posts)
15. I would have to advise no.
Sat May 28, 2016, 03:41 PM
May 2016

If a person is going to have a discussion with a student half the size that may end up in a "screaming match" and she is unsure if she would brandish a firearm during that conversation I do not believe she has the proper temperament to carry a firearm.

 

SecularMotion

(7,981 posts)
17. I agree
Sat May 28, 2016, 05:49 PM
May 2016

We should be sure a person has the "proper temperament" before they are allowed to carry a firearm in public.

 

beevul

(12,194 posts)
18. Nor teach.
Sat May 28, 2016, 11:28 PM
May 2016

I wouldn't want someone so unfamiliar with their own self and their own reactions teaching my kids.

Straw Man

(6,760 posts)
19. I have been teaching college for over 30 years.
Sun May 29, 2016, 01:10 AM
May 2016

I have never had an encounter that even came close to violence.

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