Several states, including mine (Texas), are considering allowing concealed handguns on college campuses. I support such laws. Unless and until campus security officers can guarantee everyone's safety, individuals have a right to protect themselves from assailants. Yes, there is a nonzero probability that someone lawfully carrying a gun will misuse it; but this risk is outweighed by the probability that criminals will be deterred. We're not dealing in certainties here; we're dealing in probabilities. More guns means less crime.
Addendum: Here is my favorite paragraph from the New York Times story:
One student who found himself in the midst of a campus shooting agreed. “I don’t think two people having guns and firing them in public is that good of an idea,” said Nate Hightower, who was at South Mountain Community College in Phoenix in 2008 when a former student opened fire in a dispute with another young man, injuring three people.
The young man makes the wrong comparison. He compares two people firing guns with nobody firing a gun and says he prefers the latter. The proper comparison is between one person—a mass murderer—firing a gun and two people firing guns.
Addendum 2: I can't resist a further comment. I have known several people in my life who can't think straight when it comes to guns. They are otherwise intelligent, knowledgeable, and decent. Something about guns turns them into babbling idiots. These people suffer from hoplophobia.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 