The Gun Blogs

In the Chronicle Review, a publication of The Chronicle of Higher Education, there's a brief opinion editorial by Alan Contreras, the administrator of the Office of Degree Authorization of the Oregon Student Assistance Commission about concealed carry. Contreras, as do I, has a concealed carry permit issued by his county's sheriff. In his editorial Contreras admits that he carries while on the job.

"Some of the people at the colleges and universities I visit as part of my job probably don't know that I carry a gun on their campuses. Now they do," he writes.*

I applaud Contreras' honesty and integrity in making an open statement about his right to carry. At my college, my colleagues know I have a concealed carry permit, and I am clear about my willingness to abide by my schools "no weapons on campus" (except for ceramic coffee mugs) policy, but I haven’t made an open statement to the larger educational community. There is some risk in being open about one's permit. While statistically in my county fewer than one percent of concealed carry permit holders ever have a gun confiscated for misuse, many non-gun owners perceive us as more dangerous than those around us.** While we abide within the law, there are many courts in our society including the court of opinion.

To win in the court of opinion I believe we need to have an ongoing and broad societal discussion about morals and ethics - rights, values and responsibilities - as they relate to use of force and power. As Contreras writes, "there is certainly something macabre about the idea, shown graphically in a cartoon shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, that we should just let the good guys and bad guys shoot it out. Yet it is even worse to pretend that the good guys and bad guys should be treated as morally equivalent."

*Read Contreras' editorial in the June 15, 2007 edition of The Chronicle Review page B2.

**http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=32260