The University Speakers Series held a concealed carry debate in the Reeve Memorial Union ballroom Wednesday evening to inform students about the recently passed concealed carry law.
"Not that many students know much about the [concealed carry law]," University Speakers Series committee member Emily Warnlof said. "With it being such a new law in Wisconsin, it is important for the student body and the public to be educated on the issue so they can form unbiased opinions and have a better overall understanding."
To help students create an unbiased opinion, the speakers for the debate were Virginia Tech shooting survivor Colin Goddard and Director of Public Relations for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus David Burnett. Both are part of a national "Campus Under Fire" debate program that travels throughout the country.
Goddard was shot at four times during the Virginia Tech shootings. In his class of 17, Goddard was one of seven that survivors. Since then, he's been working to keep guns off campuses.
The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus stated on its website that "there are many reasons why it would be dangerous to introduce guns into colleges and universities."
Some of the reasons include academic debate cannot flourish in a classroom with guns present, campuses would be more hazardous and armed students would be responsible to no one.
On the other hand, Burnett said he feels guns need to be allowed on campus in order to increase campus safety.
"Self-defense has always been an issue that has been important to me," Burnett said. "If something comes hunting me, I want to be ready. Until the college can guarantee my safety, they should not deny me the right to protect myself. When it comes to [people's] survival, [they] are going to do whatever it takes to walk away at the end of the day."
Having students be prepared to kill if needed is not the direction schools should be going, according to Goddard.
"If the best student comes into the classroom with the intention to kill then we've already lost," Goddard said.
During the debate, Burnett also advocated training for those who carry concealed weapons. However, Goddard did not feel that training would make the concealed carry law any safer.
"I know people who've gotten their permit who have never shot a gun in their life," Goddard said.
In Virginia, people looking to obtain a weapon can receive their training through an online video. This online training is now available in Wisconsin as well.
"[The other problem is that] no state does continual training," Goddard said. "[Plus] I don't think there is any sort of training out there that prepares you for what I went through [at Virigina Tech.] I don't think [if I had a gun that day] I could have handled it well."
When a school shooting does occur, Goddard said he believes the concealed carry law will only make the situation more complicated for officials because they will have to figure out who the "bad guy" is instead of just shooting at the individual with the gun, like officials did at the Virginia Tech shootings.
Nevertheless, Burnett said he still feels it is important to have students armed in case of an emergency.
"Disarming the good guys does not disarm the bad guys," Burnett said. "We can't let the possibility of failure outweigh the possibility of success."
After an hour of answering questions, Burnett and Goddard both had the opportunity to give closing statements.
"These two individuals are very well versed in this topic," Program Advisor for Volunteerism to Titan Volunteers and University Speaker Series Michael Lueder said. "They work for a national campaign so they know the ins and outs of these things. They both have personal experience which makes them very passionate."
The debate was free for students and $3 for community members. There were preset questions as well as audience questions throughout the debate. After questions had been answered, Goddard and Burnett were given a chance to make their closing statements.
"I [was] most looking forward to seeing how the two debaters [would] interact," Warnlof said. "It is a very sensitive topic, especially with one of them being a survivor of the Virginia Tech shooting, so it [was] interesting [to me] to see how heated the argument [could] get."
The University Speakers Series started planning this event in spring of 2011. Every year, each Speaker Series member picks three to four speakers that they want to bring to campus and present them to the rest of the committee.
The committee then votes on which speakers they think would be best to bring to campus.
The "Campus Under Fire" debate was brought to the committee's attention by the former president and this year's president.
"They heard them speak at [the National Association for Campus Activities which] is a conference that groups like us can attend and different speakers prepare a five to 10 minute speech about what they would talk about if we would bring them to our campus," University Speaker Series committee member Molly Cornette said. "Our former and current president really liked them so they presented them at our speaker selection and they were one of the ones that got picked after the voting process."
After the committee had voted on the event, the committee got more information on the debate.
"[We] email or call the speakers' agents and we get a packet with more information about the speakers such as available dates and costs," Cornette said. "After we get all the packets back to us, we discuss it further and make sure bringing them to campus is something we are capable of and everything will work out."
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