In a letter to the editor for today's Hustler, Stuart Hill, a student in the Peabody College, claimed that an article proposing looser gun control on campus was a "new low in Hustler editorial content." He seemed astounded that the Hustler would publish an article arguing that concealed carry actually reduces the crime rate. Unfortunately, if he had looked at the facts before trashing this hypothesis, he would have found that they support it.

The basis of Stuart's argument is that guns are the problem and are inherently evil, but if this is true then I ask, “why is it necessary for the police to carry side arms?” If guns are the problem, shouldn’t VUPD be restricted to pepper-spray? Right about now, you are probably thinking, “but they need guns to protect us from criminals.” By acknowledging this, you admit that guns are only the problem in the hands of those who intend to do harm. The motivation of the individual wielding a weapon is the only thing that that determines how it will be used. That is why, in the history of a trap shooting program that I have personally been a part of for the past nine years, the worst injury I have ever seen is a sore shoulder.

Now let’s enter the mind of a criminal planning an armed robbery. Would you rather hold up a liquor store and risk getting shot by a customer with a concealed carry permit, or head over to a nearby college campus where your target is guaranteed to be gun free? It is no coincidence that our most crime ridden cities are the ones with the strictest gun control, and that nearly every major shooting, tragedies that include Columbine and VA Tech, has occurred in a gun free zone. Internationally, countries with the greatest crime problems are those with the strictest gun control. In Darfur, it is nearly impossible for a black citizen to obtain a firearm legally.

Firearms will always be available illegally, so what are we really accomplishing by keeping them out of the hands of law abiding citizens, especially those already authorized to carry outside of the “gun free” zones.