@dstark, post #14 is brilliant!
Sometimes it takes a look at the opposite situation to see how ridiculous our current situation is.
Many schools do not allow mace, stun guns or pepper spray.
I was surprise to learn that in Florida, if you are traveling to a hunting or fishing place, you can wear a NON-concealed weapon. Yes, that’s right, strap it to your waist or thigh,but you have to wear it in the open. On public fishing piers, you can see people with guns showing. Nice.
Guns + alcohol + a bunch of people whose prefrontal cortexes aren’t fully developed. What could go wrong?
I don’t understand why people think it’s stupid to teach boys about enthusiastic consent. Just like we have to teach our daughters to dress, behave, etc. Ending rape, which is mostly committed by men, needs the involvement of men.
I suspect the vast majority of men and women are enthusiastic in the moment. i’m not sure what they need to be ‘taught’ other than don’t drink so much and don’t crawl into bed with someone you don’t know well. I’m don’t think giving a loaded gun to an angry or disturbed person is ever a good idea…anywhere…anytime.
@Irishmomof2 - Do you realize that it’s pretty bigoted to assume that the reason that men rape women is because they weren’t taught not to rape them? There are issues that are deeper than sexuality, lust, and desire that should be the overarching ethical basis on which a person acts. Just because you don’t explicitly tell someone that something is wrong, he or she should be able to intuit that an action is wrong because of their ethical knowledge.
Nobody ever tells you every single scenario in life and how you should react to each one. But as a living, thinking human being you can figure out which ways are the best to act. You can figure out that it’s not nice to tell someone that their outfit makes them look overweight at a particular time, but at another time when they’re less vulnerable it may be better to gently explain to them that he or she may want to consider dropping a few pounds.
Rapists are criminals, first and foremost. Average men (and women) are not rapists. You don’t need to instruct “men” not to be rapists. While most rapists tend to be men, most men aren’t rapists. That should be the foundation on which every single issue designed to prevent sexual assault is based. Most men are willing to do whatever it takes to help sexual assault. It’s pretty insulting that you’d insinuate that it’s not that way…
micmatt you are about to learn that there is an inordinate amount of political fear-mongering about what exactly is occurring on college campuses. Gun toting vigilantism is extreme taken to the absurd.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/opinion/2012/11/30/days-stephen-colbert-cus-gun-dorm/29832/
“College is the time to do shots, take shots, get shot.”
Stephen Colbert (video starts at 2:00).
The Myth of the Good Guy With a Gun
The NRA is wrong: Owning a gun is far more likely to harm you than protect
It might be more effective if every college woman’s dad owned a gun.
@Vladenschlutte There are many cases where the perpetrator apparently didn’t know that their actions constituted as rape. Studies have shown that people respond differently when the actual word rape is used compared to explaining the same situation without directly using the word. That’s why it’s important to teach what you cannot do. It removes the gray area.
Yes, like "don’t drink too much and crawl into bed with someone you don’t know well. " Works for me. Simple like “don’t drink and drive” and “Your brain on drugs” or “don’t text and drive”, “seatbelts save lives”, “click-it or ticket” “Just say no” and other “education” statements they have become part of the American lexicon.
I actually agree with Bay, post #29, and this is the system we have had since the beginning of time. Women still get raped in this system Advantaging women with strong male protectors leaves a lot of women by the wayside. And some women don’t want to depend on men for protection.
From the piece in the OP:
The flip side of this argument, of course, is that if a woman is raped on a campus which allows guns, then she is responsible. This type of law sets up a permanent framework for victim-blaming.
You got raped at a party because you don’t think firearms and alcohol are a good combination, and didn’t bring your gun? Your fault.
You got raped walking home from the library because you are opposed to mass gun ownership and don’t own a gun? Your fault.
You got raped on a date because you were making out (which actually is NOT a license to rape) in the living room but left your purse in the kitchen? Your fault.
I thought it was the victim’s fault. 
LasMa, great post.
Hmmm. If some idiot is carrying a gun on campus after this law is passed, and it goes off accidentally and kills a kid, then who is responsible? Would that kid’s father be justified in shooting Rep. Baxley at that point?
Now, I’m a staunch supporter of gun rights, but I don’t know that this is a solution to the problem. In the stereotypical college rape situation (i.e., both the guy and the girl are drunk, the guy wants sex but the girl says no, so he forces her) is the intoxicated girl really going to have the mental fortitude to pull a gun and shoot it? Without shooting herself?
Or look at this another way - drunk college students at a party - WITH GUNS.
I’m going to just leave this here:
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2015/02/woman_who_fatally_shot_herself.html
tl;dr: Michigan woman (politician) shot and killed herself while adjusting her bra holster.
Romani, that is one less live woman that can be assaulted.
I’ll actually give a real answer to this, too, as a woman who is both a current college woman and a sexual assault survivor (though I was assaulted long before college). Disclaimer: I haven’t read most of the posts so I’m sure I’m just echoing.
The vast majority of sexual assaults are done by acquaintances. This would mean using a gun on someone you know. It’s not just shooting a stranger (if it came to that). Personally, (and I can ONLY speak for myself), I’d rather have been assaulted than to take a life- especially of someone I knew. No matter how much I hated him and wanted him dead, I could not live with being the one who pulled the trigger.
The obvious: alcohol + guns don’t mix.
I would never, ever go to a college that allows for guns and I would heavily discourage my future spawn from going to a uni where guns weren’t banned. I do not carry a gun so the only thing I have to fear is other people’s guns and the fewer the better, thanks. I’d rather walk around unarmed in a dangerous area than walk around with a bunch of idiots with deadly weapons. Too many accidents, too many rash decisions.