If you have dared in your heart of hearts to wonder what if a student had plugged the maniac on stage at NIU with his legally concealed Luger, Ruger, or what-not, know that you are not alone:
Even before a gunman killed five people and injured several others in a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University, a small but growing movement had been under way at universities and state legislatures to allow students, faculty and staff to carry guns on campus.
Twelve states are considering bills that would allow people with concealed-weapons permits to carry guns at public universities. The efforts were sparked by the Virginia Tech massacre last April.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, an Internet-based organization with 11,000 members in its Facebook group, is calling attention to the issue with a protest from April 21 to 25, a week after the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech on April 16.
Are we really satisfied with our policy of restricting weapons? Or is NIU another instance of its abject failure?
Update: Reader D. notes this in the above linked story:
Samaha [whose younger sister, Reema, was killed at Virginia Tech] says guns on campus are a risk in an environment where young people drink and fight and are not always able to control their emotions.
I think the way to get around this possibility is to temporarily “deputize” certain students who pass a rigid test. And maybe there should be some prohibition about drinking for those allowed to conceal carry.In both these college cases, it seems the shooter came in blazing — but the reloading part would have been a good moment to get him.Also not knowing how many or who the “deputies” are on a campus, just public knowledge that they are there, might cause a gunman to choose a different campus.AND, the “deputy” would have to be presumed acting in the line of duty if he unloads on the shooter, so the family doesn’t sue him/her for unlawful use of a weapon, etc. after the fact.The rest of the students have to respect the fact the deputy is there to protect [them], and not try to “out” him or steal his weapon for a joke, or provoke him, or pretend to be a terrorist, etc. as we know class clowns are wont to do, especially after a 12-pack.It would give some peace of mind to students on certain campuses and might even draw attendance to such colleges. All in all, it is devastating to parents who thought all they had to worry about was pregnancy or drunk driving.
Blithe Spirit 
I think these are excellent ideas, Jim, but I do not see them making any headway. The wind is presently blowing in a very different direction. Republicans, after eight years of Geroge Bush’s lead touch, are about to lose the last branch of government they still controlled. The Dem Party is controlled by people who think the idea that we have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms is insane, and who are immune to reason on the subject. Flush with victory, and after a rash of shootings in educational institutions, soon after taking the Oval Office, Democrats will seek to crush the RKBA.
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I’m afraid that Nicholas is right.
We have people with mental problems allowed to wander loose in various stages of madness who are a threat to themselves and, too often. others. This is another of the Left’s looney ideas whose fallout continues and is never raised as a reason for the school shootings. When we lock up and treat the mentally ill, as humanely as possible, we will see less of these demented acts. Ditto for the sexual perverts who are also released into communities as time bombs.
Why does the Left demand “civil rights” for the insane and criminal, but seeks to restrict the freedoms of the sane and responsible?
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My grandfather, Roy Skinner, was a “secret deputy” in Elkton, Maryland, during a crime spree in the early 1940’s.
The mayor swore in and armed 50 men to be “secret deputies.”
The crime wave stopped.
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