Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Number of College Press Service Maurice Marholin lias been around guns since he was a child, bul the 33-year-old medical student didn't feel the need to carry one until recently. Miami's high crime rate prompted the Southern University of the Health Sciences student to start carrying a concealed weapon for protection for the first time. Marholin, who has a permit, carries his gun with him everywhere except where weapons are prohibited, and he sleeps with the gun nearby. Marholin said he believes criminals are the problems in society, not the guns, and he sees his gun as protection against crime. "I don't see the gun as a power symbol," Marholin said. "I think of it as a tool for self-defense." Although Marholin doesn't carry his weapon to class, other students at campuses nationwide are packing more than books in their backpacks. Many students are carrying handguns onto campus, a recent survey said. According to a survey published Jan. 20, 1993 in The Chronicle of Higher Education, there were more than 1,500 arrests for weapons on campuses in 1991. These arrests included violations of federal, state and local weapon laws, including illegal possession and permit violalions. The arrest information' was compiled under the Student Right-ToKnow Act and Campus Security A _ C 1 AAA T*l_ I _ _ /\ci 01 rvvu. inese taws were enacted to warn college students and parents about criminal activity on campus. Bringing a gun onto a college campus, even if it's properly registered, is a third-degree felony under federal law. According to Connie Clery of Security on Campus, an organization that fought to have crime statistics reported by universities, the guns found on campus are a byproduct of the communities that surround them. "The college campus is just an extension of our violent society," BUCK! rWTT"W MEA Breakfast: Lunch: Dinner: weapons gro^ Clery said. At the University of TexasAustin, a freshman was arrested in late November for storing weapons in his dormitory room. The student, David Matthew Larsen, was arrested after police received an anonymous phone call indicating Larsen had weanons in his possession. He was charged with having weapons in a prohibited place, police said. When police searched Larsen's room, they found a Chinese-made AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, two "The college campus is ji violent society." daggers, a switchblade, a sword, two pounds of ammunitions and a cannon fuse. Police also confiscated an "Anarchist Cookbook," a guide to making bombs. Capt. Silas Griggs of the university's police department said Larsen told police he didn't realize he was breaking the law by storing the weapons in his dorm room. "If he had been living off campus with those weapons, it would have been perfectly legal," Griggs said. The university reported 10 arrests for weapons in 1991, Griggs said. Inspector Jamies Gabbe of the campus police department at the University of California-Berkeley said the university reported 32 weapon arrests in 1991. "The number of guns on campus is not running rampant, but it has increased," Gabbe said. Gabbe said the guns are usually < found when a vehicle search is conducted. Vehicle searches are done routinely when a vehicle is impounded following an arrest. "Rarely have we gone into a building, classroom or an office and found a gun," Gabbe said. The university is not currently i LE UP! I lL DEALS a! Choose any 5 breakfast i juice or any other regula for only: $2.65 Meal Plai Cash Card (This offer excludes 1 Biscuits will be charged by item.) Choose any entree and 2 the hot line, 1 dinner rol iced tea or soda for.only or $4.20 Cash/Cash Card Choose any entree and 3 the hot line, 1 dinner rol iced tea or soda for only: or $4.60 Cash/Cash Card 1$. J& Wa wil \% ivs on college taking any preventive measures to deter guns on campus, Gabbe said. Lt. Brad Wigtil of the University of Houston police department said the guns on the university's campus can also be attributed to the fact that the university is in a highcrime urban area. A majority of the guns involved in arrests on campus belong to visitors, not students, he said. VV l^lll >cl 1U 11 l> 1II1|7U2?MUIC 1U restrict visitors to prevent them from bringing guns on campus. ust an extension of our Connie Clery Security on Campus "It's not appropriate to limit access unless you have a fence around the whole place," Wigtil said. "This is an open environment." The University of Houston had 16 gun arrests in 1991 and has had four gun arrests within the past year. The first incident of 1993 occurred in February when a female student was arrested and charged with possession of a .22caliber revolver on campus. The arrest was made after a shot was fired through a male student's windshield during an argument, Wigtil said. The revolver was found by campus police after the female allowed police to search her vehicle, Wigtil said. The three other guns were found in the possession or campus visitors. There were no shootings, but the visitors were arrested and charged with a third-degree felony. On the other hand, few students in Gainesville, Fla., have been arrested for gun possession since the student murders near the University of Florida campus. In the past four years, nine students at the university and nearby Santa Fe Community College have been rSTHl lllllllll llllll IIILIIIIIIIIIIII1IIILIII III! II III Llllllllllllllll J re Here! terns and a small ,r sized beverage 11 or $2.95 Cash/ )unkin' Donuts. All Combo side orders from II, and 1 medium : $3.80 Meal Plan side orders from I, and 1 medium : $4.10 Meal Plan * i i 11 VC.W/1 Vegetarian Chili I be served all day, every day! Non meat and on cheese entrees will be served Monday - Friday lunch and dinner! i campuses killed. Angie Tipton, a spokeswoman for the university's police department. said despite the violence in the community, die number of students opting to protect themselves with a gun on campus is low; only two arrests were made for weapons in 1991. Tir\tr*n coirl thie 1a\i; nnmK^r tnov; be attributed to campus safety seminars, and the fact that most of the students who live on campus are freshmen, generally younger than 21, and aren't legally allowed to purchase a handgun. Information about handgun safety is published by the university's police department and distributed to students on campus. Students are informed that bringing a handgun to campus is a felony, and that alone may be deterring students from bringing guns to campus. Tipton said hundreds of off-campus students purchased guns for protection alter the student murders in 1990. She said the university police are encouraging students to explore other options before making the decision to purchase a gun. They are also encouraging students who own guns to take lessons on gun safety. "If you have a gun, you'd better make up your mind that you'll be able to pull the trigger," Tipton said. "And if you have a gun, make sure you're able to use it." Tipton said many students who purchase guns are unaware of how to use the weapon and fail to realize that if they are unable to use the gun effectively they are putting themselves in danger. "We find that when they don't know how to use the gun, it is taken away and used on them," she said. Even Marholin, the Miami stu cieni wno nas Known now to use guns for most of his life, said he still isn't positive he will be able to pull the trigger if necessary. "I just hope that situation would never arise," he said. E LAW r~ ^TcTD?e . n.Ri journalism Education. B.Q Carolina Gf University ot bo Hobbies: Beading, 0??,Tenn Poetry Openings now avai in the Spring 1994 semester. Many students hav taken advantage ol this opportunity. 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