College campuses are their own communities in many ways and these communities can have their own laws. There are certain things that cannot occur on a college campus that can occur in the rest of the world. One of those occurrences is whether or not students can carry a gun.

Licensed gun carriers across the country are vying for a chance to carry their weapons on college campuses. A national student organization called Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is advocating for changes in gun laws and, in Chicago, DePaul University has its own chapter of the group.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus at DePaul held a rally Feb. 12 that was aimed at women and handed out tongue depressors for the attendants. The message behind the tongue depressor was that there are very few options provided to women to protect themselves in the city of Chicago, said Mick Paskiewicz, leader of the DePaul group.

“On the Illinois State Police Department’s website, it actually says that if [women] are confronted by a potential assailant, as a last resort, they should gag themselves and induce vomiting,” Paskiewicz said. “Because that would gross out whoever is actually trying to sexually assault them.”

Paskiewicz said the tongue depressors “opened a lot of eyes” in regards to the level of protection there really is in Chicago.

Handguns cannot be carried on a person in the city of Chicago at any time. Chicago residents are allowed to have them in their homes, but only if they meet the proper requirements and are licensed, said Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus at DePaul has about 25 members, Paskiewicz said. The group is trying to change laws that forbid students and faculty to carry guns on college campuses. The group was formed shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007 and believes that changing the laws will change perceptions on school safety and reduce and eliminate shootings, Paskiewicz said.

There are 11 colleges across the country that allow concealed, licensed weapons on campus, said Midwest regional director David Burnett. Colorado State University, a small college in Virginia and all of the eight public universities in Utah allow guns on campus. No colleges in Illinois allow guns on campus due to the state’s strict gun policy. The local organization would have to lobby and have a lot of laws overturned to allow guns on campus in Illinois and Chicago, Burnett said.

“I think a lot of people have an allergic opposition,” Burnett said. “If we succeeded, we would not actually change the number of people allowed to carry; we are changing where they can carry.”

Burnett said the national group keeps track of members by Facebook, and membership recently reached the 37,000 mark this February.

The question that is repeatedly asked by opposition at these rallies is: “Why do we need guns on college campuses?”

Pearson said he believes that having guns on college campuses will decrease, not increase, mass shootings.

“You would not have events happening that happened at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois [University] because somebody would be able to defend themselves and others,” Pearson said.

Still, there is a lot of opposition to this change in legislation. Groups like the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence are against lobbying for guns on college campuses. The campaign released a report in May 2007 titled “No Gun Left Behind: The Gun Lobby’s Campaign to Push Guns into Colleges and Schools,” which outlines their plan to get guns on college campuses.

The group released another report, “The Case Against Guns on Campus” that was written by Brady Center member Brian Siebel. That report, published in 2007, asks a lot of questions and searches for answers.

Questions such as, “Do we really want to give guns to binge-drinking college kids?” and “What about suicidal students or those in need of psychological counseling?” appear on the front page of the report.

The report states that college campuses are usually safer than the surrounding communities near the campus.

DePaul’s Concealed Carry on Campus members disagree.

“History has shown us over time that the gun-free zone kind of invites disaster,” Paskiewicz said. “States that have enacted [campus gun] laws have seen a 60 percent reduction in mass shootings. People are thinking gun-free zones are a nice thought, but they do not play out in practice.”

For more information, visit ConcealedCampus.org.