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Nebraska Students for Concealed Carry

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wallace11bravo:
I also have some factual handouts ready to go. Here is what they look like:


Nebraska Students for Concealed Carry
Nebraska Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is a non-partisan, grassroots organization aimed at drawing attention to the fact that holders of concealed handgun licenses/concealed carry weapons permits are forced by state laws and school policies to disarm before entering most college campuses, despite being legally permitted to carry concealed handguns virtually everywhere else—office buildings, movie theaters, grocery stores, shopping malls , etc.

Declaring a college campus a “gun free zone” may make some people feel safer, but as the April 16, 2007, massacre at Virginia Tech and the February 14, 2008, massacre at Northern Illinois University illustrated, feeling safe is not the same as being safe. Denying licensed individuals the means to defend themselves on college campuses turns institutions of higher learning into supermarkets for would-be rapists and mass murderers.

Current state laws and school policies prohibit licensed, law-abiding citizens from carrying concealed handguns onto college campuses, while doing nothing to disarm individuals not concerned with following the rules. These laws and policies hand armed madmen, like the Virginia Tech and NIU killers, virtual cornucopias of defenseless victims. In the event of a school shooting, students and faculty are left with no recourse but to hide under their desks, hoping to survive until enough police arrive to formulate a plan and storm the building.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus hopes that increased awareness of the discrepancy between the rules on college campuses and the rules outside of college campuses will motivate citizens to push state legislators and campus administrators to amend existing laws and policies so that concealed handgun license/concealed carry weapons permit holders can legally carry their firearms on college campuses, the same way they currently do at almost all other unsecured (no metal detectors or x-ray machines) locations.

In the State of Nebraska, a CHL/CCW applicant must be 21 years of age or older, pass both state and federal (FBI) fingerprint and background checks ( including investigations into records of mental health and sealed/expunged criminal records), attend a state mandated training course, pass both a written and a practical (shooting) test, and have his or her fingerprints and photograph on file with both state authorities and the FBI. Statistically*, concealed handgun license/concealed carry weapons permit holders commit violent crimes at a rate five times lower than non-license holders. CHL/CCW holders are neither criminals nor vigilantes hoping for the chance to shoot a “bad guy;” they are concerned citizens, just like you, who desire the means to extricate themselves from danger, should the unimaginable occur.

NSCC demands to know why individuals who are deemed by state and federal authorities to be competent and trustworthy enough to carry concealed handguns elsewhere are denied this right on college campuses.

For more information on the issue of concealed carry on campus and why it would NOT lead to more violence on college campuses or detract from the educational process, please visit:

www.ConcealedCampus.com.




NEBRASKA STUDENTS FOR CONCEALED CARRY

The Facts

- 47 states currently issue Concealed Carry Weapons permits (CCWs) or Concealed Handgun Licenses (CHLs).
*Vermont neither offers nor requires a license to carry a handgun (openly or concealed). Illinois and Wisconsin do not have provisions for legal concealed carry.
- Criminals are more afraid of confronting a potential victim with a gun than they are of the police.
*U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, "The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons," Research Report (July 1985)
- 3/5 of convicted felons say they would not “mess around” with a person they suspected might have a gun.
*U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice, "The Armed Criminal in America: A Survey of Incarcerated Felons," Research Report (July 1985)
- CCW/CHL holders are statistically LESS violent than the rest of the population. They are arrested for violent crimes at a rate five times lower than non-license holders (even lower than police officers in many states).
*Florida Department of State, “Concealed Weapons/Firearms License Statistical Report,” 1998
*Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Census Bureau, reported in San Antonio Express-News, September 2000
*FBI, Uniform Crime Reports, 2004 - excludes Hawaii and Rhode Island - small populations and geographic isolation create other determinants to violent crime.
*John Lott and David Mustard, “Crime, Deterrence, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handguns,” Journal of Legal Studies (v.26, no.1, pages 1-68, January 1997)
* William E. Sturdevant, “An Analysis of the Arrest Rate of Texas Concealed Handgun License Holders as Compared to the Arrest Rate of the Entire Texas Population,”
September 1, 2000
*"D.C. Police Paying for Hiring Binge," Washington Post, 8/28/94
*Memorandum by James T. Moore, Commissioner of Florida's Department of Law Enforcement, to the Office of the Governor, dated 3/15/95
- Despite the predictions of those who opposed the passage of state Concealed Carry laws, when such laws were first proposed two decades ago, the presence of concealed handguns has not created an epidemic of everyday arguments turning into shootings.
*Colorado State University and all public universities in Utah allow CHL/CCW holders to carry their firearms on campus. Those schools have not had any problems.
*"I lobbied against the law in 1993 and 1995 because I thought it would lead to wholesale armed conflict. That hasn't happened. All the horror stories I thought would come
to pass didn't happen. No bogeyman. I think it's worked out well, and that says good things about the citizens who have permits. I'm a convert." -- Glenn White, president of
the Dallas Police Association, Dallas Morning News, 12/23/97
*"I...[felt] that such legislation present[ed] a clear and present danger to law-abiding citizens by placing more handguns on our streets. Boy was I wrong. Our experience in
Harris County, and indeed statewide, has proven my fears absolutely groundless." -- Harris County [Texas] District Attorney John Holmes, Dallas Morning News, 12/23/97
*"Some of the public safety concerns which we imagined or anticipated a couple of years ago, to our pleasant surprise, have been unfounded or mitigated." -- Fairfax County
VA Police Major Bill Brown, Alexandria Journal, 7/9/97
*"I was wrong. But I'm glad to say I was wrong." -- Arlington County VA Police Detective Paul Larson, The Alexandria Journal, 7/9/97
*"The concerns I had--with more guns on the street, folks may be more apt to square off against one another with weapons--we haven't experienced that." -- Charlotte-
Mecklenburg NC Police Chief Dennis Nowicki, The News and Observer, 11/24/97
- Concealed Carry Laws reduce mass public shootings.
*Lott, J., Landes, W.; "Multiple Victim Public Shootings, Bombings, and Right-to-Carry Concealed Handgun Laws: Contrasting Private and Public Law Enforcement;"
University of Chicago – covers years 1977 to 1995
- Reducing the number of guns does NOT reduce violent crime.
*Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser, “Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence”
- The United States Supreme Court has ruled that police have NO duty to protect the lives of citizens, yet concealed handgun license holders must leave their greatest means of defenses behind when they step onto college campuses.
*"...law enforcement officers have no affirmative duty to provide such protection..." - South v. Maryland, 1856
*"...there is no Constitutional right to be protected by the state against being murdered by criminals or madmen." - Bowers v. DeVito, 1982
- Concealed handgun license holders carry for defense of life only. They do not act like the police and actively seek out a shooter.
- Nearly every “shootout” between two armed individuals is over in less than 10 seconds. Mass shootings can exceed 30 minutes.
*In The Line of Fire: Violence Against Law Enforcement, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Institute of Justice, 1997
*The real Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a gunfight involving nine armed participants, lasted only about 30 seconds.
*Virginia Tech massacre – 9 minutes; Columbine High School massacre – 49 minutes; Luby’s Cafeteria massacre – 15 minutes
- Most victims of mass shootings are shot at pointblank range, by assailants who move slowly and methodically from victim to victim. It requires neither superhuman reflexes nor deadeye accuracy to defend oneself against such an attack.
- Police forces are trained to expect armed “bad guys” and armed “good guys”—be it off-duty/undercover police officers or armed civilians—in tactical scenarios. CHL holders are state and FBI certified “good guys.”
- There are no significant differences between carrying a concealed handgun on a college campus and carrying a concealed handgun in an office building, shopping mall, restaurant, grocery store, bank, or movie theater (a few of the places CHL/CCW holders are currently permitted to carry concealed handguns).

RLMoeller:
Looks great!  May want to review and update the facts section, as Wisconsin now has CCW.

wallace11bravo:
Fixed it, thanks! I also removed where it said CCW can carry in banks in the bottom portion. I'm working with material from the national SCC so it obviously needs to be modified for state level.

bullit:
Not every state prohibits "bank carry" e.g. Texas..if you're just intending to leave as a general statement and not Nebraska specific.

wallace11bravo:
Took me two hours, but I just finished 49 personalized emails to 49 of our state's senators on behalf of Nebraska Students for Concealed Carry. I urge all of you to contact your senators and express support for our organizations goals. I realize that it is too late for any new bills, but it is an uphill battle folks, need to get started early!

I am also seeking assistance with the upcoming "Empty Holster Protest" scheduled for the first week in April, to coincide with the national organization. I would like to have a strong presence at both UNL campuses. I would like to hold a meeting on the 18 March with those interested in becoming active in this organization.

Still seeking campus directors, Doane is the only slot filled so far.

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