Criminals do not care what the rules are, by nature - they are going to break them. All people I know with concealed permits respect the hell out of the responsibility they carry, have to go through background checks, have to be at least 21, and go through a process to get the permit. These really are not the people we need to worry about shooting up the schools or any other place. Someone had stated that this guy in IL was licensed; he was licensed to own firearms, but not to carry. There is a difference.
The idea that allowing folks to carry concealed to help is tough though, most shootings are over in seconds, under a minute at the most. By the time you figure out what's going on, find cover, gain your wits, pull your CCW, find the bad guy, and take a safe shot, the situation is most likely over. So having a CCW will most likely not help, it could though - no question. BUT, the idea that many do carry on campus may provide much of a deterrent to the bad guy doing this in the first place. Which may provide the answer to your question of "why this sort of thing didn't happen 30 yrs ago?", because my school was not a gun free zone and many people may have been carrying. A "gun free zone" is a zone full of people that cannot defend themselves against people who do not care about the rules, as such they are easy targets.
The notion that it (carrying on campus) will give the shooters more ammo is silly. If you are carrying *concealed*, how is the bad guy going to know you have ammo for him?
The notion that we are going to get rid of all guns is simply not going to happen.
As for campuses being private property, some are, some are not. Private colleges are well within their rights to say yes or no to guns on campus. Private property owners make their own rules for their own property.
If you wanted to make a special class of people who can carry on campus, fine, make the background check similar to an NFA check but those are generally not the people we as society, really need to worry about.
Blame bad parents/parenting all you want, but that will not change to environment. And even if some nationwide instant parent correcting problem *could* take place - would take at least one generation to see the effects in student behavior. Also, these are adults in college we are talking about. Over 18, call them kids if you wish but they are in fact adults by law and responsible for their own decisions. Certainly influenced by their childhood, but we all are.
In the IL case, IMO it's a monumental mess up on the part of the state of IL. This guy spent time in a mental institution after high school and reports are that he was discharged fromt he military due to mental health problems. There is no way he should have been allowed to get the shooter's license to even own a firearm in the first place. The law was in place to potentially prevent this, the state of IL screwed up.
Lastly, in the state so CO and UT, concealed carry is allowed on state campuses and these are among the safest campuses in the country, no incidents whatsoever since allowing concealed carry.
JMO
