Dear Chancellor Sharp,
I write this letter with a heavy heart as I am baffled by your decision to support Campus Carry. As an Aggie and member of a Texas ranching family, I understand the heritage of guns in our great state. But I am also the mother of two young girls so I went to the Senate Committee hearing on Monday at our State Capitol to hear the commentary — for and against — Campus Carry.
Here are just a few of the comments that I heard as to why Campus Carry (and Open Carry) are just bad policies:
– Students voicing concerns about concentrating with guns in the classroom. Let’s face it, not everyone is comfortable around guns.
– Texas A&M and University of Texas professors who are concerned about their safety and who have received verbal threats from stressed students needing to receive a certain grade. They are terrified of adding guns to that equation.
– Psychologists reminding us that the Prefrontal cortex of the brain does not fully develop until the age of 25, or later (the area of the brain responsible for decision making)
– A tearful mother and widow explaining how she tried to stop her mentally ill 18-year-old son from buying a gun. She was not successful because he was of the legal age. Her son killed her husband with a gun just months later.
– That 75% of Texas law enforcement DO NOT support the idea of Campus Carry
We all know about the Aggie Code of Honor — we do not lie, cheat or steal or tolerate those who do. Is the university campus so unsafe now, so combative, that our students feel compelled to carry a gun for protection? That does not sound like the university I attended, and it does not sound like one that I want to support.
Finally, you may remember my grandfather, Barlow Bones Irvin, ‘26, who played football for A&M and retired in 1968 after years of dedicated service to the university. I loved hearing his colorful stories about the people who helped to shape A&M. I’m certain of what he would say today if he was still alive, living in his home just two miles from Aggieland.
“Guns on campus? That’s crazy!”
Grandfather, I couldn’t agree more.
Respectfully,
Kathleen Irvin Loughlin
Class of ‘92