why would you carry a sword or a gun onto a university campus?
You don't ask why I'd carry a book, or an MP3 player, or a peanut butter sandwich. Why is it any of your business why I'd carry my sidearm? But to be pedantic:
* I'm on the shooting team, going to practice
* My boyfriend threatened to kill me
* My class project is to engineer a new trigger mechanism
* I just like to
* etc.
What I choose to carry is my own damned business. If I create a danger to others, that's a different story, but simply carrying a gun or a sword poses no more danger than countless other things that we constantly ignore (say, driving).
most people would needlessly have to drag weaponry around
Not true. First, the guns would have a deterrent effect even if only a non-trivial minority had them. So long as we're creating a good chance that a bad guy will be met with resistance, we're achieving something. It doesn't need to be a certainty.
Second, how many people lug around golf clubs in their trunk all the time? And, how many people are permanently attached to their cell phone? Heck, a sidearm is a whole lot smaller than a purse; a woman can just put it into her purse, so what's the big deal?
I have a good idea why you would carry a book, MP3 player or peanut butter sandwich. Your other reasons are much rarer and some of them even disturbing in itself (boyfriend threatened to kill you - a) you keep bad company, b) you want to defend yourself with a gun).
I think you mentioned the peaceful hunting village were everybody carried a knife to the supermarket. How would they look on a Samurai sword, I wonder?
You carrying a gun is my business because it endangers me. If I was allergic, maybe you could try to kill me with a peanut butter sandwich, but it would be much more difficult. (I am not only taking about you actively trying to kill me, but accidents or collateral damage).
Again, why would you want to carry a gun? It seems likely to me that if I see you with a gun, you have a paranoid or aggressive nature. Maybe if I accidentally cross in front of you in the canteen, you get angry and start a fight? Or if I look at you the wrong way? If you are on the shooting team, you would be kind of excused, but presumably after a while it would be known you are on the team and you would be excused.
Nobody calls the cops on a cop carrying a gun, because cops carrying guns is normal behaviour. Carrying guns into a classroom is not.
You don't ask why I'd carry a book, or an MP3 player, or a peanut butter sandwich. Why is it any of your business why I'd carry my sidearm? But to be pedantic: * I'm on the shooting team, going to practice * My boyfriend threatened to kill me * My class project is to engineer a new trigger mechanism * I just like to * etc.
What I choose to carry is my own damned business. If I create a danger to others, that's a different story, but simply carrying a gun or a sword poses no more danger than countless other things that we constantly ignore (say, driving).
most people would needlessly have to drag weaponry around
Not true. First, the guns would have a deterrent effect even if only a non-trivial minority had them. So long as we're creating a good chance that a bad guy will be met with resistance, we're achieving something. It doesn't need to be a certainty.
Second, how many people lug around golf clubs in their trunk all the time? And, how many people are permanently attached to their cell phone? Heck, a sidearm is a whole lot smaller than a purse; a woman can just put it into her purse, so what's the big deal?