TO THE EDITOR:
Many people reading this in Chapel Hill will have received an email from Chancellor Carol Folt and Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt about security in Chapel Hill after the horrible murder of a university professor. We all grieve for the loss, and we should all applaud any efforts to make UNC safer.
However, the answer to our security and safety problems is not to simply increase partnerships with groups that are certainly helpful. Until students, professors and staff who have the proper training are able to use concealed carry permits, they will continue to possibly be subjected to what Folt and Kleinschmidt rightly call “random acts of violence.”
The only solution is to allow individuals to defend themselves. Only victims and survivors follow the laws; it’s time for the UNC System and the North Carolina General Assembly to look at empowering individuals for self-defense before tragedy strikes rather than focusing on improving the responses of law enforcement after a devastating crime has taken place.
Peter McClelland ‘15
Political Science and History
