Drake University is trying to calm parents' and students' fears that the campus isn't safe due to a few shootings recently in the surrounding neighborhood.  To be honest, it really isn't all that safe around the campus.  No, it isn't another Detroit, where folks have a lot more to worry about in regard to their safety than Des Moines residents do, but certainly we have issues with violence.  

This is why I decided to write a piece in my student newspaper about a concealed carry policy on campus.  It'll get hammered by those who disagree, like most of my opinion articles, but I thought it was still necessary to put the option out there (you now, for those who actually care about their natural right to self-defense).  I think it is important also to remember that gun control has never been actually been about guns -- it has always been about control:

Unfortunately, we are all very aware of the recent violence in the Drake Neighborhood. Although there have not been school shootings, per se, there have been shootings by those in the Des Moines community at-large. They certainly evoke questions about the safety of our campus.

These questions are not new, though. In light of recent school shootings (two at Virginia Tech), folks have scrambled for solutions to the problem. While most argue for stricter gun control, some have argued that allowing students to carry guns themselves would actually make campuses safer. It seems counterintuitive, but is there any credibility in this argument? While I may personally support this policy, I’m not here calling for a switch at Drake. Rather, I only hope that as students we at least start to become more open minded to the idea and realization of our natural right to self-defense.

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