Colorado professor starts petition to ban concealed carry after Aurora shooting

Source: http://www.campusreform.org/blog/?ID=3093

By Oliver Darcy

“A professor in the Aurora area has started a petition to repeal Colorado’s Concealed Carry Act, in light of the recent mass-shooting that took place last week.

Professor Chad Kautzer launched the online petition at Change.org in an effort to help “protect the health and safety of University of Colorado employees and students.”

Professor Kautzer teaches philosophy at the University of Colorado — Denver (CUD), the same school shooter James Holmes was attending for his graduate degree.

Earlier this year, the Colorado Supreme Court overturned CUD’s ban on concealed weapons, ruling that Colorado’s Concealed Carry Act applied to college campuses. Now students who meet the state’s qualifications to carry a concealed weapon can do so on campus.

“University campuses are places of work and study,” reads the petition. “The intentional introduction of more firearms in this environment only increases the chance of deadly violence.”

Professor Kautzer, who is also the director of the school’s “social justice minor,” lists the “recent mass shooting by CU Denver student James Holmes” as a reason to prohibit concealed firearms.

He claims that studies show “where guns are more prevalent, gun violence and homicides are more likely.”

On his Facebook page, Kautzer adds he is “seriously aware that a CU Denver student just gunned down a room full of innocent people” and that he has to “deal with people like James Holmes all the time.”

University of Colorado student McKayne Boedeker told Campus Reform that he doesn’t think gun-free zones are effective at preventing shootings.

“The theater was a gun free zone and the shooting still happened there,” said Boedeker. “Perhaps if a responsible citizen was there carrying he could have ended the shooting earlier and saved lives. But because it was a gun free zone the people were just left there helpless.”

Former student Daniel Ward, who spent seven years in the U.S. Army, also told Campus Reform that he thinks “it is a ridiculous idea to use a single incident to dictate policy,” adding that “the theater that the shooting happened was in a gun-free zone.”

Professor Kautzer was not available for comment at the time of publication.

This is a DEVELOPING STORY. Stay tuned with Campus Reform for the latest updates.”

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