How is campus any different?

This column appeared in the Virginia Tech student newspaper on Wednesday. Written by Sam Stephens, a student who is identified as a guest columnist, the article is thoughtful and concise on the topic of being able to protect one's life.

I feel like I lead a good life. I'm a student at an incredible school in one of the top 10 engineering programs in the country. I have an incredible family, any one of which I'd take a bullet for. I have good friends and just recently I've landed the most amazing girl I've ever met.

But I cannot pretend to comprehend why someone would take two students' lives in the middle of their camping trip. No one can answer what was on Cho's mind when he killed 32 of my classmates, and I will never know why no one acted when the girl was stabbed and decapitated in front of her fellow Hokies.

The one thing that I do know is that not a single one of the victims of these crimes stood a fighting chance. I do know that as soon as I cross onto campus I can no longer have my weapon on me even though I'm a law-abiding citizen with a concealed handgun permit.

This issue is not going away. As more students like Sam speak out, more legislators are going to take notice and the standard "college campuses should be places where guns are not needed" will no longer suffice as a response to the campus carry movement.