Concealed Carry As Much a College Tradition as Bonfires
I was disheartened to hear that Colorado State University has announced plans to outlaw concealed carry on their campus. I believe that the blame for this boneheaded decision can clearly be put on nerds. When our founding fathers added the second amendment to the Constitution they clearly meant concealed weapons as well. Some of our nation’s universities had been around for over 100 years. Concealed carry became an instant college fad although at that time, it usually meant carrying a small tree with you and hiding the gun among its branches or a blunderbuss which could be concealed by a large top hat.
Since then, college has been a time in people’s lives when they learn how to drink and shoot responsibly. I still remember those days as a freshman at college, drinking cheap beer in the park at 2AM and shooting at road signs as we drove home. I’m still surprised we made it home alive sometimes, but we all learned from the experience and we grew as people for it. Card games were always time for firearm hi-jinks. Inevitably one of us would pull out his gun and accuse one of the other players of cheating. Tailgating before football games was always announced by firing a couple of warning shots in the air. Even my college professors used to grade on a nicer curve when they didn’t know who was packing. I didn’t have a lot of money back then, but I loved my snub-nosed .38 like my best girl.
CSU-Fort Collins Police Chief Wendy Rich-Goldsmith a relative newcomer to the campus, supports the ban, but she is a woman. Fortunately, a hero has stepped forward to save social life on college campus. Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden, outraged by the ban, said he will undermine it in the interest of student safety. “I have told the CSU police chief I will not support this in any way,” Sheriff Alderden explained “If anyone with one of my permits gets arrested for concealed carry at CSU, I will refuse to book that person into my jail. Furthermore, I will show up at court and testify on that person’s behalf, and I will do whatever I can to discourage a conviction. I will not be a party to this very poor decision.”
