SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI — Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, has submitted a bill to the Missouri Senate to allow concealed carry on campuses. At present, Missouri law stipulates that a university or college may define how and when they want concealed carry to take place — some parts, none at all, or everything goes. Now Senator Dixon is looking to change all that by making campus carry Missouri law.
via News-Leader
“Let’s say the permit holder is a a 21-year-old female, if she’s attacked on the west side of National (Avenue) in Springfield, I’m referring to the (Missouri State University) campus, should she have a different set of rights than if she was attacked on the other side of the street? No,” Dixon said.
Half a nation away in Florida, senators and representatives are debating a similar issue as to whether or not to make concealed carry a right for Florida residents on campus. The same argument is being used: women have a right to defend themselves.
And you know what? They’re not wrong.
As we’ve argued countless times, self-defense is an inviolable, inalienable right of all human beings. It’s legally protected by the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution and it has been relegated into the ground by many state legislatures. This is a grand awakening in the precedence of gun rights in America. After an awkward twenty years of “back and forth” legislation, perhaps we are now nearing a time where law-abiding Americans may have the right to choose for themselves when and how they shall be armed to meet their foe.
For those who managed to watch President Obama’s speech this past Sunday, regarding the fight against terrorism and the urge for the national Congress to act to further restrict gun rights for Americans, you will note how he urged those placed upon a terror watch list to have their rights taken away from them.
We’ll touch upon this in a future article.
But for today, perhaps we are seeing the advent of a new time when states awaken to the reality that the well-armed, law-abiding citizen truly is the first line of defense against an armed, illegal aggressor. Perhaps self-defense will now be recognized as an inalienable right subject to fewer restrictions.
The first step is allowing those attending university and college pursuing our nation’s future in science, literature, and technology to be able to legally protect themselves on and off campus.
There should be no safe zones for armed criminals.
Let’s see if Missouri catches on. It hits the legislature next year.