Michigan’s bill HB 5474 would prohibit colleges and universities from banning concealed weapons. As usual with this sort of proposal, this law would merely allow those who already have concealed pistol licenses to carry as normal.

Here’s a quote from Helmke on the bill:

“We need to do more to make it harder for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons,” said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “Michigan should reject this bill, just as all other states have done.”

Helmke apparently didn’t elaborate on how the first part of his quote (about making it harder for dangerous people to get guns) related to the second part of his quote (about guns on campus).

Getting past the predictable input from the Bradys, here’s more on the topic:

The MSU Board of Trustees voted in June to allow those with concealed weapons permits to carry firearms through campus. But concealed weapons are not permitted in dorms, classrooms, arenas or stadiums and this would not change, said state Rep. Jase Bolger, R-Marshall.

“(These) are pistol-free zones and that wouldn’t change at all,” Bolger said. “They are prohibited today, and they would be prohibited tomorrow. Michigan State would not change a thing because of this law, because Michigan State has passed policy that is consistent with state law.”

But some university officials disagree.

MSU Trustee Colleen McNamara said weapon regulation on campus should be determined solely by the university.

“It’s our campus,” McNamara said. “And we have responsibility for the safety of the students and the employees of the university, and our policy on guns should be our policy, not the state’s.”

MSU spokesman Kent Cassella said the university could not speculate on proposed legislation.

The bill is included in a package of bills supported by the Michigan State Police to eliminate inconsistencies in statewide firearm regulation.

“We have a situation right now where the state has said, ‘Our laws are going to be the only laws that are going to (be) applicable on this topic,’” said First Lt. Matt Bolger, legislative liaison for the Michigan State Police.

The State Police backing the bill should give it a better chance.

Here’s some input from a Wayne State University (in Detroit) student:
(more…)

Mistaken identity leads to Montrose High School lockdown over class mock robbery

MONTROSE, Michigan — Montrose High School went into lockdown Thursday after a lunch lady saw a man in a stocking mask lurking outside the school.

The masked man? Montrose Police Chief Darrell Ellis.

It was a planned part of a forensic science class, but the lunch lady spotted them and reported it.

Mississippi State University:

Tuesday morning began just like any other morning for football star Kaleb Eulls.

Eulls and his three younger sisters were among 22 passengers on a school bus bound for Yazoo County High School in western Mississippi until a 14-year old female student boarded the bus armed with a .380 semi-automatic handgun threatening to shoot and ordering the bus driver to pull over.

Eulls got the gunman to focus on him while the rest of the passengers evacuated. When she looked away for a moment he jumped her and took the gun away.

The female assailant was arrested on 22 counts of attempted aggravated assault, 22 counts of kidnapping and one count of possession of a firearm on school property. She was taken to the county juvenile detention facility.

She must have missed the “no guns” signs.

A while back I got this tip in the inbox: All violent video games poised for ban in Germany

A bill is about to be introduced to parliament, after having been rubber-stamped by all sixteen of the country’s interior ministers, that would ban the sale of all violent video games. What’s a violent video game? Any game “where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or unhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters.” Yikes.

And not only would the law ban the sale of violent video games there, it would also ban the development of violent video games there.

The bill was the result of reports that a school shooter in March was an avid player of Counter-Strike. (I don’t know the actual status of this legislation, so if someone has more, don’t be shy about letting us know.)

Additionally, more restrictions on where you can store your legally-owned firearms (as in: you can lock them up at the range only) and banning of paintball were part of the bill.

Des Moines:

A gunman shot and killed a prominent Iowa high school football coach in the school’s weight room early Wednesday and was taken into custody shortly afterward, authorities said.

The gunman shot Aplington-Parkersburg High School coach Ed Thomas at about 8 a.m. with about 50 students in the school, including several in the weight room at the time. School was not in session, and no one else was injured.

The shooter was apparently not a student.

South Orangtown Middle School:

A school administrator wrestled a gun-toting former NYPD cop to the ground Tuesday after the crazed dad barged into a Rockland County school, furious his son got the swine flu, cops said…

Gun drawn, [Peter] Cocker strolled into the school past a security guard’s station about 11:30 a.m. The unarmed security agent called cops and in minutes, a SWAT team and several police units converged outside.

When the officer got to Mitchell’s office, they found the door had been barricaded and heard the sounds of a “violent struggle,” police said.

The officers blasted through the door with a shotgun.

By that point, Mitchell, 55, had already gained the upper hand.

This guy was obviously deranged, the superintendent acted heroically, and the story has a happy ending.

But if this idiot had gone in with the intent to kill large numbers of people, it appears that that unarmed security guard and the SWAT team would have been too late. Which is the way it will almost always be.

First Amendment Rights Trampled by Pittsburgh College after Student Advocates for Concealed Carry of Firearms on Campus

PITTSBURGH, May 27, 2009—A student who wants to form a gun-rights group at the Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) has been threatened with disciplinary action for her efforts. Student Christine Brashier has turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help after reporting that administrators banned her informational pamphlets, ordered her to destroy all copies of them, and told her that further “academic misconduct” would not be tolerated.

This is the gem:

When Brashier stated that she wanted to be able to discuss this policy freely on campus, she was told to stop doing so without the permission of the CCAC administration. Dean Burns reportedly said, “You may want to discuss this topic but the college does not, and you cannot make us.”

Waaaahhh! (via Instapundit)

This is astounding.

Yesterday, SB-1164 in Texas passed:

By a 20-11 vote, a divided Texas Senate gave final approval this morning to a bill that would allow college students with state handgun licenses to carry weapons in dorms and classrooms.

And get a load of the headline and lede at GunFreeKids.org:

Texas Senators Who Voted to Force Hidden and Loaded Guns Onto College Campuses Put Students’ Lives at Greater Risk of Gun Violence

(Austin, TX, May 20, 2009) – Today the Texas state senate passed dangerous legislation that would force the carrying of hidden and concealed guns at public universities and colleges.

Force.

You can’t make this stuff up. (via Uncle)

Massbackwards:

They always told us that if college students were allowed to carry handguns, there would be “blood in the streets”.

And, they were right!

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. — A group of college students said they are lucky to be alive and they’re thanking the quick-thinking of one of their own. Police said a fellow student shot and killed one of two masked me who burst into an apartment.

Via Uncle, who adds:

But, remember, college students are just too irresponsible to be trusted with guns on campus.

The question no one wants to ask is “But how did the cops tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys if everyone has guns?” because that’s always a big hand-wringer for opponents of legal carry on campus (and, to be honest, everywhere else).

So how did the cops tell the difference? Luckily, it wasn’t a problem. The cops didn’t get there until much later. (That’s what passes for “luckily” in some circles these days.)

So just what have the cops done about all this?

Police said they are close to making the arrest of the second suspect.

Thank God for that. Any day now they’ll have him in custody.

That is the title of an interesting editorial in the Missouri Western State University student paper:

It is the “Old West” argument, that if the populace is better armed, less people might be inclined to go on a shooting spree. If Johnny had known the student behind was armed as well, he might not have drawn his own heater.

But Johnny wouldn’t have known that, because the issue is not simply about carrying guns in school, it is about concealing them as well.

It is the popular opinion of the Griffon Newsroom that the story wouldn’t stop there. It is believed that in this situation, all chaos would break loose and head straight for the fan.

It’s sort of a rough piece. The point to the whole thing seems to be this: Better than allowing permit holders to carry concealed weapons on campus, the killer shouldn’t have allowed to have a gun on campus in the first place.

Apparently, they mean like at Virginia Tech.

I’m perfectly willing to listen to opinions about how allowing students to carry on campus may cause more harm than good. But anyone who makes the argument that NOT allowing students to carry on campus will prevent gun violence has certainly not been paying attention.