On Monday morning, I read a piece in this very section by Michael Beato, a genuinely great guy with a stronger grip on style and common sense than I could ever hope for. I have a lot of respect for him, a sentiment made stronger by the fact we hardly ever agree on anything political. I haven’t had too many conversations with the guy, but, based on previous experience, I’d much rather spend an hour — or even an afternoon — shooting the political shit with Michael than any college Democrat in the area.
Monday’s column was even better than usual. I tend to enjoy his pieces because they force me to peer out of the echo chamber that is my usual reading and engage with an opinion wildly different from my own. I find that this keeps me humble, or at least grounded, so I don’t simply take my own ideas and opinions for granted. Like good writers should, he makes me work for my beliefs.
Monday’s column concerned the ever-ascendant campus-carry bill and the reasons I shouldn’t be afraid of concealed carry coming to UF. I remember smirking my way through the piece, thinking, "You sneaky bastard!" over and over again because he made points I was finding difficult to undermine. If you find the time, read it online or dig through a week’s worth of trash somewhere: It’ll be worth your while.
But, as I write this column in the immediate wake of the San Bernardino, California, massacre, I feel the urge to retort. What I found eloquent and even somewhat convincing at 9 a.m. Monday now requires urgent refuting. I’ve remembered why I strongly disagree with campus concealed carry in the first place.
I’m not going to drum up fears that licensed concealed carriers will suddenly go nuts and shoot students and/or faculty at will. That would be dishonest, fear-based rhetoric, and I feel there’s enough of that going around already.
Here’s the thing with campus concealed carry: It’s fundamentally unnecessary. Truth be told, I’d be ambivalent about the idea on most days. After all, as Michael said, if the bill passes, the hypothetical guns would be concealed. Visually, nothing would change. Life would go on, end of story. Now, as for the other reasons supporters always cite: They’re all hackneyed bullshit. I find the idea that concealed-carry legislation would lead to a decline in campus rapes to be incredibly patronizing, seeing as most campus rapes are committed by acquaintances and not shadowy boogeymen jumping out from behind bushes. In the event concealed carry on campus did indeed somehow prevent even one rape, I would happily admit to being wrong.
The other prong of the argument for permitting concealed carry on campus is that its introduction will deter mass shootings. The logic here can be seen in the reflexive reaction of any gun fetishist when news of another mass shooting breaks: This wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t a "gun-free zone." That incantation should be familiar to all of us. It’s an inversion of logic. Shooters don’t attack these places because they’re gun free. They attack these places because they are highly populated and outside direct state supervision — which is precisely WHY they’re gun free. If you’re looking for other reasons why this argument is garbage, listen to the armed veteran present at the Umpqua Community College shooting in Oregon dismantle the "good guy with a gun" theory.
At the end of the day, I can live with faulty arguments. What I cannot abide is the continued victory of gun fetishism in this country. This was made clear to me again after Wednesday’s attack on a center for the disabled in California. The shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, happened not even three years ago; because we failed to act then, thousands of Americans have since died in mass shootings. I can’t find the specific number now because this week’s tally has yet to be added to the national statistics.
We have to end this sometime. As for myself, I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of saying "I’ve had enough." I refuse to give one more inch to the sickening creeps whose livelihoods depend on preventing measures to prevent mass death. We have to fight against it in every form. I’m sorry, Michael.
Alec Carver is a UF history junior. His column appears on Fridays.
