What are the Gun Policies at FSU?
posted by Misha Thomas | November 29, 2017 | In News, OpinionThe right to bear arms has been a fundamental American right since it became the Second Amendment right in 1791. Yet, when another mass shooting takes place the NRA is silent. I, myself, am not against American citizens owning guns, but I am against senseless killings at the hands of White males as statistics have shown. According to Mother Jones, of the 95 mass shootings since 1982, 54% have been committed by White men.
App reports that U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson D-NC, whose district includes Fayetteville, has sponsored the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017, which would allow a person who has a permit to carry a concealed weapon in one state to another state. The Las Vegas shooting has spurred debate about gun control and a possible ban on bump-fire stocks. According to the Associated Press report, bump-fire stocks effectively turn semi-automatic weapons into automatic machine guns. Stephen Paddock, the shooter, had some of the accessories in the hotel room where he fired.
I have viewed countless shooting from the view of new programs. Everyone asks the question: What can be done to stop mass shootings?
I’ve found myself recently pondering if I am safer with a gun of my own then living without one. I’ve never shot a personally, I’ve only held a replica of a paintball handgun. Honestly, I felt a since of danger, but power in hand. I wonder, at times, if shootings like the ones that have happen on college campuses across the country are likely to happen on 1200 Murchison Road. Living on Fayetteville State University’s campus I admit I was not told much about gun policies or even the restrictions placed on faculty. Nevertheless, I understand that before I should ever fire a weapon, I need to educate myself in the polices that have been set in place.
The following interview conducted was with the Vice Chancellor of Fayetteville State’s campus police chief, Mr. Renarde Earl.
First, could you explain to me what it is that you do and your name?
I’m Renarde Earl the Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief of Police for Public Safety, basically my job is [to provide] safety and security for the entire university.
How long have you worked here?
I started working here August the first of this year…a little over 3 months.
What kind of training did you have in order to be permitted to fire a weapon?
Well of course I have my degree in Criminal Justice, I’ve been in law enforcement close to 25 years and over 20 of those years I spent serving on a college campus. This is my third college campus. …I’ve had countless supervision, leadership training, prior to this positon I spent 14 and a half years as the Chief of police a psych tech community college in Winston Salem.
What are some of the standard procedures with gun policies here at FSU?
Well of course, guns are not allowed on campus unless you have a state of North Carolina conceal carry permit, but with the concealed carry permit if you bring that weapon on campus it can’t be a rifle or a shotgun. If it is a handgun it has to be locked in a concealed compartment inside a vehicle…a glove compartment, in the trunk of a car. You cannot walk around with it openly.
I read this report, there was a proposal that made it illegal to carry weapons openly in Cumberland County, but it did not become a law because it did not pass unanimously. Why do you think people believe it is there right to carry weapons in public?
Well, people think and believe that they have the right to protect themselves. If I were carry one I wouldn’t want to carry it openly, people will kinda look at you as possibly being a target. …but if you have the gun permit and if you don’t have the concealed handgun permit you have to carry it openly. So the concealed carriers permit allows you to carry it concealed where people don’t see it.
How long would that take then to get the necessary paperwork in order to receive a permit.
Here in North Carolina all of that is handled by your insurers office, you have to apply, they do a background check in regards to certain things so if everything checks out then of course you have to pay certain fees for the concealed carriers permit. I have mine I [received it for around] $90, but if you go and apply for a gun permit I think that’s about $5, but that’s different. The gun permit just allows you to be able to go out let’s say a gun store and purchase a gun. A concealed carriers permit requires various things, you have to be a certain age, you have to do the state mandatory training, you have to go through an extensive background check.
There is a quote from someone who opposed the proposal that I mentioned earlier saying that, “the only way to stop bad people with guns is good people with guns.” How much of that statement do you say is true?
I wouldn’t say I agree with that statement, part of the reason is I’ll give you an example, you and I are at a restaurant, I am a police officer, I’m in uniform, you are a citizen, whether you have your concealed carriers permit or not you have a gun. Let’s say a person over here does something, I don’t know you, but I see you pull out a gun. That can cause some problems, as an officer the only thing I see is a gun, I don’t know you, you could be a good person, but if I see that gun and I see you pointing that gun I don’t know if you’re the good guy or the bad guy. So you run into those types of situation s and like I tell people let the police and law enforcement handle the situation.
Are staff and faculty, professors and janitors, people that work for the school, are they allowed to carry firearms.
No.
Why?
Because it’s against the law.
Are there weapons restricted that even campus police cannot use or carry?
No.
They’re not?
No. We’re police, therefore just like if someone was to come here and let’s say for instances it was a rifle, we carry handguns. Now rifles are gonna [going to] give you a whole lot better of a distance in terms of shooting if you’re trying to hit a particular target. A handgun is only going to go so far and so we have to be able to use whatever weapons, tools, or resources we have to stop a threat, so if that includes us using rifles then we have the authority to do that.
So if I saw someone carrying a weapon here on campus, what would be my first course of action? What would I need to do?
First thing you need to do is contact us, give us a description of the person, clothing description and a direction of travel. Also, we would ask you to describe the weapon…give the best possible description and call 911 or call us here (dial 1911)
Reports about the Las Vegas shooter found the he had “pump/slide stock” which increase the rate of firing speed. I found that citizens could purchase this for around $99. What do you think about that?
I do think that there should be limits in regards to certain that citizens are allowed to purchase as it relates to firearms. But other people think differently, those who are good citizens use certain equipment and firearms to hunt…pretty much nowadays you can go out on the internet and buy anything that you want to buy.
Do you think that there should be limits on how many magazines can be purchased at one time? I’m not sure if there is a limit for citizens.
There is not a limit…but when you intend to harm others yes there should be a limit, but how do you determine who these individuals are? Just like when you go to apply for your concealed carriers permit, they ask you if you’ve ever had any domestic violence, any mental health issues. Now part of the job if you say no is that they have a background check. If you say yes, that could be an automatic disqualifier where you can’t obtain that permit.
Some argue that the minimum age to purchase a fire arm should be 21, do you agree? Why or why not?
I will be honest with you, I think it should be older than 21.
How much older?
I would say myself personally, probably 25, reason being, you should be a little bit more mature and so having a little bit more of life experience so to speak.
What do you say to people that feel taking guns away would decrease mass shootings?
“ I’m kind of neutral on that. First, it would be next to impossible to literally take people’s guns away. However, Australia had a massive gun reform in the 90s, after a dealt mass shooting and after there hasn’t been another one since. Even though there was a mass shooting every couple years prior to that.”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.