Gun rights protest puts heat on UNH prof

YOUR COMMENTS

I do believe UNH Deputy Police Chief Paul Dean would find it difficult to determine which individual with a firearm to shoot. It is difficult, if not impossible, to identify your target while cowering behind cars and trees - waiting for the shooting to stop.

Unless stopped by an armed citizen, the only way these incidents end is when the shooter taking his/her own life.

"Protect and Serve" only from the relative safety of cover seems to be the only police response.
- Sean, Auburndale, WI

Deputy Chief Dean's comment about automatically shooting anyone he sees with a gun shows that he is unfit for duty. Police officers are trained to expect armed good guys as well as armed bad guys. They are also trained to assess the threat and respond appropriately, not shoot first and sort it out later. What if one of the shooters was an off-duty police officer, for example?

As for the issue of allowing licensed individuals to carry on college campuses, I support the notion 100%. "Gun-free zones" serve only to disarm the law-abiding, while criminals will disregard such policies and regulations and will bring guns to campus for nefarious purposes. Such zones effectively create a shooting gallery full of defenseless victims for armed psychopaths. As Col. Jeff Cooper so succinctly put it, "An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it."
- Mickey, Dallas, TX

I never would have worn an empty holster to school. My holster was always filled. I began carrying a concealed pistol in my sophomore year of college, and continued to carry without incident through law school. If you just keep it covered and don't let your rowdy friends know about it, then it isn't a problem. Concealed is concealed. And should the need to use it ever actually arise, then the short-sighted campus police chief can berate you to no end after the fact--but only after you have saved lives.
- J.B., Palmer, Alaska

OK, so which student is going to be the first to file a civil case against the UNH Administration for violation of Article 2A of the NH Constitution?
- James, Warner

Paul, also while NH issues permits to 18 year olds they cannot purchase from any licensed firearm dealer. Further a good percentage would not be armed since statisticly nation wide only 1% hold concealed carry permits.
- Matt Ham, Milton

Paul, concealed carry is already allowed in downtown Durham, for better or for worse, to include bars, and there have been no shootings yet.
- Matt Ham, Milton

It has been proven that an armed citizen can stop a mass shooting that is in progress. In Pearl Mississippi a student brought firearms to school and started shooting. The Assistant Priciple went to his vehicle and retrieved his .45. He was able to hold the gunman at gunpoint and prevent more people from being killed or injured until the Police arrived.

The first Mall shooting had an off duty armed Police Officer that was able to keep the gunmans attention until Police arrived and were able to neutralize the threat.

In Columbine and VA Tech, there were no armed students or staff and the casualty rates were high.

VA Tech and Columbine were both "Gun free zones." The perpetrators of those killing sprees obviously did not care that they were in a "Gun free zone."

Will a sign that states "No firearms allowed" stop someone from carrying one in and shooting people, of course not. All it does is keep the law abiding citizen from protecting themselves and the lives of those around them, including the lives of Professors that do not want to support a persons 1st Amendment right.

I carry concealed and will continue to do so. I have taught 3 of my daughters to shoot handguns, rifles and shotguns and they are all under the age of 18. They have been taught to be responsible with a firearm and how to properly handle firearms. I hope that they take advantage of their right to carry a concealed weapon when they are old enough to get a permit.

Enforce the gun laws that are on the books. Adding more will not do any good.

Kevin Williams
Vice President Chester Rod and Gun Club
- Kevin, Raymond, NH.

I can hardly wait for the next time the- red sox/pats/unh hockey team- win a championship and the students start "celebrating" by pouring out of the bars, into the streets and rioting. The situation will be so much better if a good percentage of those students are packing concealed weapons. After all it's their right. I'm sure nothing bad would happen if a bunch of armed drunk 20 year olds are going wild in the streets of Durham.
- paul, Gorham

Every UNH student knows how oppressive the UNHPD is. It's no surprise to me that we can't wear holsters to class. I once came close to getting arrested by a police officer for wearing a back-pack on a Thursday night in downtown Durham.
- Chauncy, Durham, NH

Just a thought: I wonder how many shootings like these school shootings have taken place at a shooting range or a gun club or a police station, where almost everybody is armed............HMMMMMMMMMMMMM, just a thought.
- Mark, Candia

Dave, you said "People that commit violent crimes are generally not concerned with the consequences and will just as likely kill you for the heck of it than use reason and think about their actions. They don't care if you have a gun, knife or tank."

Remember, these people don't care about any of the current gun laws either, so new or more gun laws are also not the answer.
- Mike, Franklin

I agree with what Matt's protest. I am also in college and sometimes wonder about my fellow piers and what I would do in an instance like VA Tech. I have been hunting since the age of 12, have taken the required safety classes, and would feel better carrying some means of self protection for instances such as VA Tech.

The prof. had no right to try and silence Matt's protest because of her own views. She clearly violated his first ammendment rights.

Also, I now worry about ever traveling to Durham and UNH with a police officer who makes the statement: "'If I enter a classroom and there are two people with a gun, who do you think is going to die,' he asked. 'Both people.'" What kind of show is he running down there?! That greatly worries me!
- Katherin, Sandwich

Perhaps we should consider allowing professors with training to carry guns on campus if they choose, akin to arming of pilots.
- Richard Feldman, Rindge, NH

I love how gun articles always bring out those who infer that liberals want to take away all the guns and keep anyone from owning one. Isn't it possible that people can have an opinion that doesn't fall nicely into your political cookie cutter? I don't vote republican yet I own guns and joined the NRA. I wear a helmet when I ride a motorcycle in NH, does that make me less of biker?

I'm not keen on anybody toting a gun to school for a few reasons.

Just because someone owns a gun doesn't make them a law-abiding person who can use that gun properly. I have a fear of people shooting others for varying degrees of perceived threatening behavior, where does that line get drawn?

People that commit violent crimes are generally not concerned with the consequences and will just as likely kill you for the heck of it than use reason and think about their actions. They don't care if you have a gun, knife or tank.

The person that busts into a classroom will also most likely have guns drawn and take out people that have guns anyway. I doubt that the masses with guns to deter violence will get off the first shot.

This is not to say it may not keep a bad person from killing a whole bunch of people at once but I don't think it will prevent all gun crimes. The only winner there is the one with the best shot.

I don't know the answer to preventing murder (or gun violence) but I don't think it's "more guns".

And for the record, if one states that "more guns" isn't the answer it doesn't mean "no guns".
- David, manchester

I am no lawyer, but the email was a private communication etween th estudent and th eprof. It should not have been posted, and the comment about the grade shows just how inconsiderate the student was.

I also feel that people are missing the problem with guns. Having guns or not having guns is not the problem. There were many steps that allowed the VA Tech, Columbine, etc. to happen, it was not one item. Students having a gun might have stopped the massacre from spreading (a few more people could have also been hurt from the well intentioned "goog" student with the gun by accident too, however), but it would not have stopped the shooting from starting.

Gun toters and gun banners need to address the issue of violence in this country, not the legality of carrying a weapon. This is the crux of the issue, and will not be solved when attention is on guns or no guns. We need to find ways to prevent the situations from happening in the first place.
- Chris, Bedford

I sincerely hope that no undercover/off-duty police officer is ever shot by Deputy Chief Dean! His attitude is simply dangerous. NO ONE should ever fire a gun unless they KNOW who/what they are shooting at. This is the kind of thing that is covered in basic gun safety courses. I'm suprised someone as "highly trained" doesn't grasp this concept.

The professor can feel criticized all she wants. When you intentionally try to limit people's free speech, you are going to get criticized. Writing scathing e-mails probably wasn't the nicest thing...but it's better than a lawsuit if she had tried to stop the student from wearing an accessory that was not against the school's policy.
- John, Algonquin, IL

I have 4 grandchildren in school. Two at UNH, one at Keene State another just rec'd 4 year ROTC scholarship to VA Tech.
If there are two people shooting at each other, isn't fair to say one is the bad guy? Further, if they both were killed, isn't fair to say that no one else would be hurt? Police arrive "after the crime". They are never there to stop it. We, as law abiding citizens, have the God given right to self defense.
I support the right for students to carry concealed.
- Edward Gendreau, Derry, NH

Kevin is correct and points out the ludicrous hypocrisy and bias of UNH policy toward those whom personal responsibility actually means something. Way to go Mr. Ham, you have educated many on an important personal rights issue which may actually make some of the students / staff THINK some for once.
- Jim, Deering

Three CHEERS for Matt Ham, including for his service in the National Guard. Three JEERS for the lame UNH policy in general, and the Deputy Police Chief Paul Dean in particular. Clearly, neither respect the Second Amendment, and Dean's quote, "It's someone's desperate attempt to get their message out there and not be silenced," suggests he is not happy with the First Amendment either. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone. When seconds count, the cops will be there in minutes.
- Ed Holdgate, Sandown NH

The Sociology prof was out-of-line trying to prevent a student from wearing an empty holster. Even if you accept the University's ban on guns on campus, where does that say that an empty holster is banned? Basically, she was trying to impose her own personal views on the student. Of course, professors do this all the time, but usually they are more subtle about it. :-)
- Brian Jennison, Newmarket

The deputy police chief's comment strikes me as being way out of line. If officers burst into a classroom where a shooting had taken place, they'd blindly shoot anyone with a gun? What if there was an undercover officer or a what if the victims had overpowered the attacker and were holding him at gunpoint? Shoot first, ask questions later? What kind of police force is this guy running?

Besides which, we all know that in school shooting situations, the police wait outside until well after all the shooting has stopped. Allowing students to carry is the only chance they have to survive in one of these situations. The police never enter until the massacre is concluded.
- Alex, Nashua, NH

"If I enter a classroom and there are two people with a gun, who do you think is going to die," he asked. "Both people."

By the time the cops actually get to the classroom, one of those two people will already be dead.
- Rich, Derry

Professors want to spew their liberal garbage behind closed doors. They do not want to actually be challenged in the light of day. I am glad Matt Ham did this. It shows the intolerance of the libs (when they keep telling the conservatives to be tolerant) and it shows the lack of willingness on the professors part to be challenged. The universities are full of paper tigers. Glad to see some heat on at least one of them.
- jon, wolfeboro

I completely agree with Kevin from Lancaster that the UNH gun policy blatantly violates state law and the constitution.
- Bradley Jardis, Hooksett, NH

It's pathetic for professor to whine that their e-mails are posted. I can find any professor's e-mail if I know a name. Asking your group members or asking a legal advocacy group to contact a professor or administrator on behalf of your rights is not a belligerent. It is the instructor's responsibility not to restrict your freedom of expression, while it was of course fine for her to not allow that it take up class time. The police chief's comments saying simply that they're both dead is absolutely ridiculous. And what basis does he have to say that something is counterproductive when his mind is already closed to it? It disgusts me when people hide behind their own gun collection to trivialize SCCC as some fringe group that doesn't have the support of the big gun rights groups.
- Daniel Minardi, Morgantown, WV

Deputy Chief Dean is disingenuous at best, and downright dangerous at worse.

Tactical responders are NOT "trained to quickly find and take down shooters". From Columbine to Virginia Tech, we have seen that the official police response is for officers to take up secure positions and wait for a calculated response.

As for dangerous, let's examine his threat to kill anyone with a gun, whether they're a criminal or a legitimate defender: "'If I enter a classroom and there are two people with a gun, who do you think is going to die,' he asked. 'Both people.'"

It's important to point out that UNH gun policy is contrary to state law. By the state constitution and law, only the General Court can regulate firearms. As a government body (with a police department), UNH is prohibited from banning firearms possession, whether by students or non-students. UNH policy is just as invalid as if Durham passed a local ordinance banning guns from city property.
- Kevin, Lancaster