Brilio.net/en - With over fifty thousand students, the internationally renowned university of Texas in Austin is one of the largest American public establishments. Since last Wednesday, a law project adopted by the local members of the Parliament authorised people aged 21 and older with a concealed handgun license to carry handguns in classrooms.
The prohibition in force until then has been reconsidered after the recent cases of shootings in several US schools. The pro-gun lobby groups took advantage of the situation and seized the opportunity to demonstrate that these attacks could have been avoided if the students would have been able to reply with their own guns. "Our goal is to instil the importance of everyone to be able to defend themselves in any way they choose," the lobby group said in a statement posted on its website.
The president of the university, Gregory Fenves, had to reluctantly bend to this project. I do not believe handguns belong on a university campus, so this decision has been the greatest challenge of my presidency to date he deplores.
The debate provoked by this decision is particularly sensitive in the United States given the fact that the University of Texas in Austin, was the scene of the first mass shooting on a college campus in the country in 1966. At the time, a former Marine, Charles Whitman, killed 14 people and injured 31 others when he fired at people from the schools clock tower.
"I empathize with the many faculty, staff, students and parents of students who signed petitions, sent emails and letters, and organized to ban guns from campus and especially classrooms. As a professor, I understand the deep concerns raised by so many. However, as president, I have an obligation to uphold the law. "he insisted. Indeed, several faculty members had threatened to leave if we were to allow the carrying of handguns within the school.
Image via AP
Fenves explains that according to him, the presence of handguns in a higher education institution is contrary to the principles of education, adding that the private universities in Texas will continue to apply the prohibition of carrying weapons on campus. "However, as President, I have an obligation to uphold the law."
Despite the authorisation, weapons can still be banned from sporting events, university canteens, infirmaries, some laboratories and residence halls.
(Reported byCelia Tholozan)
(brl/tis)
