Universities Embrace "Assault Weapons" on Campus

Over a hundred universities and colleges have embraced the concept of having “assault weapons” on campus.  It is worth noting, that when the university administrations buy the weapons for their own use, the menacing nomenclature of “assault weapon” is magically transformed into “semi-automatic rifles”.

Campus administrations all over the country who have been claiming that allowing adults who have concealed carry permits on their campus will chill free speech and academic freedom, have no such concerns with having “assualt weapons” on campus, as long as the weapons are in the hands of the people they command.  From abcnews.go.com:

Once a rarity on campuses, semi-automatic rifles are becoming a standard part of the arsenal for college police forces — firepower they say could make a difference the next time a gunman goes on a rampage.

The weapons are rarely seen in public and often stashed away in cruisers or at department headquarters, and many schools won’t talk about them. But federal data and Associated Press interviews and requests for records reveal that over the past decade, at least 100 U.S. college police agencies, and probably many more, have introduced rifles or acquired more of them.

In the hands of the people, AR 15 rifles have been routinely decried as “assault weapons”.  In the hands of university and college administrations, they are necessary tools to defend the school.

Every “assault weapon” bill or statute that I have read has included the AR 15 and variants as one of the listed “assault weapons”.  Numerous politicians and disarmists have said, over and over again, that the only purpose of such firearms is to kill many people very quickly.  That is false, as demonstrated by the reasons given for the police adoption of these common and popular rifles. 

“A bad shot with a rifle is better than a good shot with a handgun,” said Skip Frost, who until February was deputy chief of police at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which offers a semi-automatic rifle to every officer.

 It is easy to find police who extol the virtues of the AR-15 rifle.  From bluesheepdog.com:

That same philosophy can be applied to the selection of rifles, and the reason a rifle can be more advantageous than a shotgun in some situations. Probably the most commonly used patrol rifle in American law enforcement is the AR-15. This weapon allows the officer to field up to 30 rounds of .223 rifle ammunition at the start of an engagement. Should the need arise, extra magazines are relatively easy to carry and quickly add to the officer’s ability to engage armed criminals, multiple adversaries, and even those who themselves are armed with rifles and maybe ballistic armor.

As citizens who are not police officers face exactly the same threats that police do, it is obvious that the same advantages of the AR-15 apply to them.

AR-15 rifles make excellent home defense firearms.  Their easily recognized shape and features give them an edge in deterrence.  The magazine capacity is outstanding, allowing the engagement of multiple targets, quickly.  The ease of use gives the rifle better practical accuracy.  The right ammunition selection can prevent over-penetration.

There are a great many reasons why universities and colleges would welcome these effective defensive tools. 

If only they would apply that logic to everyone, and not just themselves.  It is marvelous how a rifle is transformed from a machine that has only one purpose; to kill as many people as fast as possible, to an essential tool of defense; depending on whose hands are holding it.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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