By Matt Wake (Contact / Staff Bio)
January 15, 2008 - 12:00 a.m. EST

CLEMSON — If you have a South Carolina permit, you can bring a concealed handgun to a movie theatre, restaurant or shopping mall. But at universities and other schools, licensed firearms are a no-no.

After an April 16 shooting at Virginia Tech resulted in 32 deaths, the subject of guns on campus took on new vigor. A Web-based group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), believes allowing licensed handguns on campus could help prevent another tragedy.

SCCC was founded at the University of North Texas in the weeks following the Virginia Tech shootings. The formation was a direct response to the carnage in Blacksburg.

“The issue of colleges being off-limits to concealed carry by permit holders is an issue that has irked license holders for years,” said SCCC Media Coordinator W. Scott Lewis. “However, it took a tragedy like the Virginia Tech massacre to rally so many like-minded people to the support of this cause.”

The Law Abiding Citizens Self-Defense Act of 1996 provides guidelines for

S.C. concealed weapons permits. However, the code is amended by section 16-23-420, which forbids even permitted individuals from packing heat on school public premises. Law enforcement officers, guards and military personnel are exempt from the latter policy.

A violation of 16-23-420 is considered a felony in South Carolina. Conviction can result in a maximum fine $5,000, up to five years in jail or both.

By disarming law-abiding citizens on campus, SCCC believes the rules potentially restrict mitigation of a crisis situation. In Virginia Tech’s host state, persons must be 21 years or older to obtain a concealed weapon permit. South Carolina maintains the same requirements.

“Nineteen of the 32 victims of the Virginia Tech massacre were over the age of 21,” Lewis said.

For detractors of the SCCC mantra, Lewis said the feasibility of packing permitted heat has already been proven. Since the fall semester of 2006, state law in Utah has allowed licensed individuals to carry concealed handguns on campuses at public colleges. Concealed carry also has been legal for several years at both Colorado State University and Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia.

“This has yet to result in a single act of violence at any of these schools,” Lewis said.

However, Clemson University Police Chief Johnson Link isn’t sold on the idea.

“I am opposed to legalization because I am not convinced it will not make the campus safer and could actually add confusion to an incident,” Link said.

Crime scene confusion is just one common criticism of concealed weapons on campus. Skeptics also cite volatile campus life, crowded pedestrian traffic and the prominence of dorm room theft. Others fear on-campus weaponry would distract from the learning environment

However, the SCCC Web site, concealedcampus.org, contains rebuttals to all the aforementioned assertions.

“Every day millions of licensed Americans legally carry concealed handguns in office buildings, banks, churches, etc.,” Lewis said. “Numerous studies show that concealed handgun license holders are five times less likely than non-license holders to commit violent crimes. Campus ‘gun free zones’ may make some people feel safer, but as recent events demonstrate, feeling safe is not the same as being safe.”

Clemson political scientist David Woodard redirected the debate towards Blacksburg — and the Second Amendment.

“Who would stop someone like the Virginia Tech killer if we don't have guns on campus?” Woodard said. “I understand that concealed handguns are a right.”

Most states with “shall-issue” concealed carry legislation — like South Carolina — the rate of concealed carry is around 1 percent. CUPD do not conduct dorm searches for arms. However, officers constantly scan persons entering university events for weapons and other contraband.

SCCC is comprised of over 9,500 college students, college faculty members, parents of students and concerned citizens. College student make up 90 percent of the membership.

The organization handles member registration through Facebook.

Because SCCC operates through the popular social networking Web site, the group is unable to determine how many members they have in a state or school. (SCCC is in the process of developing an autonomous registration system to enable that ability).

Although Lewis was unable to quantify SCCC’s presence at Clemson, he could discern the group was active there. An e-mail to the organization’s campus leader at CU, Andrew Davis, was not returned by press time.