Editorial: 'A Modest Proposal' for UNC campuses safety
CBC Editorial: Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023; editorial #8874
The following is the opinion of Capitol Broadcasting Company
House Speaker Tim Moore says the state law establishing “gun-free zones” is ineffective. His conclusive proof? Two incidents involving firearms – one resulting in a murder – at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“Criminals are going to have guns, and the best solution to a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," is the recommendation from House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican who says he has a son as a student on the UNC campus.
What a grand idea! We’ve got just the solution that we know Moore will embrace. We can already hear the wild cheers from the current members of the UNC Board of Governors as well as the trustees at public university campuses across the state.
We harken to another UNC graduate requirement with roots in World War II. Until 2006, no undergraduate could receive a degree without demonstrating the ability to swim.
While wimpy administrators were all wet when they dropped that requirement we think it’s time for the campuses to toughen things up.
Who needs a “gun-free zone” when all students will be required to take, and pass, instruction in gun safety and use.
Every student to receive a diploma, must demonstrate they understand gun safety, and just as important, that they know how to use a firearm.
How? Take in their freshman year and pass North Carolina’s official Concealed Carry course. It’s a mere eight hours of instruction. No big deal.
Not only will this enable them to understand gun safety but every student will be able to carry a weapon to confront any threats – just as Moore says.
We have little doubt that the gunmakers with operations in the state – and gun dealers like U.S. Sen. Ted Budd -- would be more than delighted to underwrite the costs. They could even supply the handguns, shot guns and sporting rifles so students in the classes can demonstrate what they’ve learned and skills acquired.
As part of their certification, maybe the supporters of these classes could make discounts available so students could then go out and get a gun or two.
Imagine an entire campus of good guys with guns! Could anything be safer? And the certification is good in 36 states so North Carolina students visiting other campuses around the nation would increase their safety.
Would there even be a need for campus law enforcement. Think of the savings. It might even prompt a tuition cut!
This is easy. Repeal the “gun-free-zone” laws now. Make students take “concealed carry” courses to graduate.
NOTE: Lest anyone be confused, the above is written in the spirit of Jonathan Swift’s famous 1729 satiric essay, “A Modest Proposal” in which he parodies an economic treatise to suggest the impoverished Irish at the time sell their babies as food. To be blunt, those who seek ridiculous solutions to serious problems ignore common sense.
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