The hot-ticket debate over gun control has arisen again, but the random acts of violence that caused this debate to resurface are impossible to predict and so destructive that a select few have taken power into their own hands.
Whether we like it or not, faith in our public safety relies heavily on the power of guns. Our police carry weapons because the criminals carry weapons; however, while we’re in class or anywhere on Portland State’s grounds, we’re under the direct protection of an unarmed security force—our campus security. The physical location of campus in Portland’s metropolitan center makes it more susceptible to criminal activity.
There exists, astoundingly, a select few people hidden among us who carry concealed weapons on an everyday basis. Fear of guns has caused those in fear to arm themselves. This inversion is not of a completely selfish nature.
People like Ryan, a 31-year-old student who legally carries a concealed weapon with him every day, believe they are protecting those around them as well. So I asked him what he thought about the gun debate.
Q. Do you believe that it’s OK to carry a weapon in public places?
A. I think that it is always OK to carry a weapon in public. In places like the Capitol building, they shouldn’t be concealed but carried openly.
Q. How often do you carry your weapon?
A. About 90 percent of the time I go out, pretty much wherever. I actually have it
right now.
Ryan then revealed his handgun, quickly drawing it from his back pocket, and cocked it instinctively.
Q. Have you ever needed to pull it out?
A. Not yet—I hope I never have to.
Q. Do you believe that a college campus security force should be allowed to carry weapons?
A. Yeah, but only if they’re qualified.
Q. What do you believe to be the issue between gun advocates and those pushing for more restrictive gun control?
A. I think that gun safety has a lot to do with it—you know, repressing the urge to use a gun can cause people to go crazy.
Q. Did you grow up in a gun-safe household?
A. No, I started shooting when I was about 28. I’ve been a member of the Tri-County Gun Club since then, and I shoot about once or twice a week now.
Q. Do you want people to know you’re carrying a weapon?
A. No, I don’t want to seem dangerous or crazy.
Q. Don’t you think guns are dangerous?
A. Yeah, if you don’t know how to use [them].
This vigilante mentality that Ryan has adopted is potentially quite dangerous. There’s no ordinance that requires students with a concealed carry permit to register their status with the school, so who’s to know if the person behind you in class is packin’ heat?
Oregon statute 166.370 forbids firearms in “public buildings,” which schools are, but subsection B says this section doesn’t apply to, among others, “(d) A person who is licensed under ORS 166.291 and 166.292 to carry a concealed handgun.”
Certain gun owners believe this segment of legal jargon to be a loophole that allows concealed carry within public places—like schools—that have been hit hardest by recent acts of violence like those in Aurora, Colo., and Newtown, Conn.
Why then doesn’t the PSU campus security force, which secures the same downtown area as the Portland Police Bureau, train and arm its officers? The transit police carry firearms, so they must predict that people will at some point decide to use a firearm on the transit system. Doesn’t the same feeling of kinetic energy surround guns that are concealed by unknown vigilante citizens at PSU?