The concealed carry of firearms is now legal on public junior colleges in Texas and the hosts of ABC’s talk show “The View” had a few choice words to say about it Wednesday.
Jedediah Bila was the first host to weigh in on the law, SB 11, which was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott two years ago and made it legal starting Aug. 1 for lawful gun owners to carry concealed guns on community college campuses throughout the Lone Star State.
“When you study these shootings, what you find out is that a lot of these lunatics, these maniacs target gun free zones,” Bila said.
The host then referenced the movie theater mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, saying the shooter specifically targeted a theater where guns were prohibited, a line of reasoning espoused by gun researcher Dr. John Lott Jr. and other gun rights advocates. Bila also cites a study conducted by the Crime Prevention Research Center, an organization founded by Lott.
“He went to a theater that had a sign out front that declared it was a gun free zone,” Bila continued. “You see it all the time. I mean, there’s stats upon stats. The Crime Research Prevention Center came out with a stat that over 98 percent of mass shootings occur in gun free zones. So I want those students who have a license to carry, who have gone through the process, who have been approved, to not be sitting ducks in those classrooms.”
The other hosts then shot back, with Whoopi Goldberg the first to interject.
“You do know that to get a gun license, you don’t have to actually learn how to shoot the gun,” Whoopi Goldberg interjected. “I’m telling you, people can go and buy guns and never ever have to go to a gun range.”
In fact, Texas does require first-time handgun license applicants to complete classroom training, pass a written examination and pass a shooting proficiency test.
Joy Behar then jumped in, pointing to a Federal Bureau of Investigation study of active shooter incidents from 2000-2013, which found that 1 out of 160 shootings was stopped by a non-law enforcement witness with a gun.
“Statistically, you are more likely to kill another civilian or yourself with a gun,” Behar said. “This is part of the insanity that’s going on in this country right now.”
“The last thing you need in a dark theater with adrenaline pumping is a bunch of people popping up armed, because when someone comes to save the day, who are they going to shoot at,” Sarah Haines argued. “Anyone with a gun.”
“What about the professors who give you an F, I’d be scared to teach in that class,” Behar added.
“Why should a citizen who has gone through background checks, who has gone through the proper protocol — why should they be sitting there in that classroom if they’ve gone through the process,” Bila retorted. “The gun is not the problem.”
During the past year, campus carry has been legal in Texas on four-year college and university campuses. The Austin American-Statesman found the University of Texas system had only one incident related to campus carry in the past year, which involved a student posing for a photo in the school library.
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