Packing Heat

In a recent Letter to the Editor, Jerry Guerriere recommends that our local colleges allow, even encourage, faculty and students to carry concealed weapons. The state of Pennsylvania allows us to "pack heat", yet Lafayette, Lehigh, and NCACC all have signs stating "No Firearms". This is a bad idea, according to Jerry. He writes, "If you were a bad guy and were going to rob a house, would you go to the one with an alarm company sign or to the house without an alarm (welcome mat)? We don't need our future leaders, doctors, engineers, etc to be sitting ducks. We should write to the schools and tell them to change their rules. The state of Pennsylvania's laws are not keeping students and faculty from arming themselves. It is the school administration that is inviting the bad guys in."

Right on, Jerry! In fact, this could be a boon to our cash-strapped institutions of higher learning. The College Book Store is a great profit center for them already. Students and faculty are a captive market for those over-priced text books, and that's not the only item that keeps the Book Store cash registers ringing. As a freshman engineering student back in 1965, I paid $35 at the Lafayette College Store for an "approved" drafting set that I found for $15 back home during Thanksgiving.

If Lafayette, Lehigh, and NCACC "approve" a particular Glock pistol, mark it up by 100%, and sell it in the College Store, they will not only keep the bad guys at bay, but they will fill their coffers. This is a true win - win. There might be a hail of gunfire as Lafayette and Lehigh students clash for those precious goal posts after the big game, but it's a small price to pay. After all, the true purpose of college is to prepare undergrads for the Real World. Since the Real World allows them to pack heat, let's prepare "our future leaders, doctors, engineers, etc". for the boardroom, operating room, or engineering office with some collegiate firearm experience.