Posted: 4/11/2007 11:27:41 AM EDT
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Yeah, I know not a quick draw, etc. I'm doing the back to college thing, carry allowed by law, banned by school, blah blah. It's not a primary concern of mine. I'm taking classes as a non-admitted, non-degree seeking student anyways, so it's not even like I've had to read, sign, and agree to any student handbook, etc anyway. But to my point. The chairs are uncomfortable as hell to start with, and with all the shifting around and close proximity of people of dubious political slant beside and behind me, I REALLY don't want to print. So while at school, I've taken to carrying in the front pocket of my backpack, right behind the pencil pocket. My logic is that having it is better than not having it. I mean everything is a trade-off, right? Perfect accessibility is running around with the gun in our hand, finger on the trigger. At the other extreme, we're unarmed. The "normal" trade-off has us with our various CCW rigs. When it's not attached to me, it's between my feet. Losing it would obviously create an incredibly awkward situation. So talk to me about my choice of carrying in my backpack at the University. |
| I am a college student and also CCW. My backpack I have had for a couple of years and it has a special zipper on the top that accesses a special compartment meant to hold a cd player. My commander size 1911 fits in their great. If you where flexiple enough (I am not) you might even be able to access it without taking the backpack off. I believe the brand on the bag is EastPack and I think I gave about 50 bucks for it at the time. |
I'm sitting here laughing, and the people around me have no idea why. |
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If someone were to try to mug you what is the first thing besides your wallet they would grab? Access wise, it is almost impossible to get to your gun if you need it in a split second. Plus, what if you put your backpack down somewhere? It should be more secure than that and on your person or not at all, IMHO. |
I think a greater concern on campuses are situations where some fruitcake decides to go on a rampage. NYS University Police do not impress me in the least, and I'm involved in training the local county sherriff's deputy recruits (the Sherriff is a former Marine, and asks us to help rough them up a bit to square them away). The "emergency phones" that have bright indigo high-visibility lights on them that dot the campus are usually several hundred feet apart. Nazareth, a small private school, uses a much better system in my opinion... they have personal locaters for students where they jam both buttons down and it activates a location system that cops can use to find the person within a few feet. It also activates the nearest flashing light so that it draws attention from other places and helps guide responders to the scene. You also have to deal with the fact that cops are responders, not preventers. If they were preventers, they wouldn't exactly be writing any traffic infraction tickets now would they? They are there to respond to a crime. Sometimes they are present to donate a presence in order to keep would-be violence from ever occurring (like on-campus protests). Take a look at the Appalachin law school shooting, or any number of violent acts that occur on campuses. Campuses are prime, juicy targets. Little to no police presence, arms forbidden by law in many cases, and a bunch of targets with little to no knowledge of how to deliver hate and discontent to assailants, armed or otherwise. Or, how about the wonderful critter who decided to join the jihad and drive his vehicle into a crowd of students up at Chappel Hill in Raleigh-Durham. He didn't kill anyone, but that's beside the point. He managed to disable his vehicle's mobility in his stupidity and (thankfully) untrained and undisciplined brain. I would say that these are the kinds of concerns I would have on a campus. I'm never worried about getting mugged on campus... there are too many frail little victim-minded liberals (both male and female) for a 180 lb male with military bearing to be considered a wise choice. I am, however, worried about Johnny Jihad. |
Man Purse!  I occasional carry using a Maxpedition Jumbo Versipack. Not as fast as a holster but a lot faster than backpack carry. If you can stomach the man purse comments they're not bad at all and Maxpedition makes very nice gear. |
Well, on a campus the manpurse might be... not quite what one would want. I think for the communist academia environment, an over-the-shoulder book sack... the ones that go cross-body and rest on the hip. I believe they are called messenger bags... they would be ideal for "backpack" style carry, especially on a campus. All it takes is a quick opening flip of the flap, and the weapon can be retrieved. |
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Yeah, that looks a bit too tactical and functional, would really stand out. A situation came up today that I wasn't altogether comfortable with. Exam time, and the TA said all jackets and backpacks had to be hung up on the sides of the room. I put it in a spot away from all the others, changed seats to be close to it, and kept one eye on it the whole time. Was not comfortable with that situation at all. When it's between my feet, I'm cool with that. When it's 10 feet away... not cool with that. I'm not sure why they had us do that this time, they haven't for either of the past 2 exams. It'll be long shirt day for next exam, I guess. On the upside, it was the easiest exam ever, and I was done in less than 15 minutes. Seriously. I didn't believe the clock. 50 multiple choice questions, and if I get more than 2 wrong, I'll volunteer to hold the targets at next pistol league. I think I like the idea of the messenger bag for college stealth. |
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I worried that I would lose track of a gun that was not attached to my person, so I quit doing it early on. One moment of inattention and your gun is gone. Worst case, it's used to commit a crime and then you're in deep kimchee. These days my guns are either on me or in their designated parking spaces. As an aside, my wife is considering getting her CCW permit, and we're just going through the same mental exercise because she would like to carry in her purse. She loses that thing about as often as a 6 year old comes up one shoe short, so I think we're going to rule that out. |
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A manpurse? They would have to pry the money from my cold dead hands. Unless you're Jack Bauer, the satchel just screams "Liberal victim disconnected with reality." At least here in Alabama it does: messenger bags are the province of the laptop-toters, theatre queens, emo kids, and hipsters. By simple Pavlovian process, one associates the satchel with those sorts of people (I am not implying that thespians, CS majors, terrible-music-enthusiasts, or hippies are ipso facto bad people) and if I were minded to prey on the defenseless, I would go straight for those folk. If you see two 5' 10", 160 lb frat guys, one with a backpack and one with a messenger bag, and you had to pick which one to mug, which one would it be? Consciously or subconsciously, it would probably be Mr. Manpurse. |
Depends on the state. I certainly won't be doing it... it's a Felony of all sorts of pound-me-in-the-ass penitentiary lockup. Hell, in NY girls aren't even allowed to carry a pepper spray can on campus! The several-hundred-feet-apart emergency phones with several minute response time is supposed to be the best we can do as a society. Funny, the emergency phones have never been used on any of the attempted rapes... the girl had to call 911 after she fought him off. This is why I teach women how to deliver some serious whoopass in rape defense. They may not be strong or massive, but what strength they do possess can be used quite effectively. I've seen some dainty little 100 lb chicks turn into fuckin' warriors. It's pretty cool  But yeah, it all depends on the state. I want to see zones set up on public institutions where you cannot exercise other individual rights, such as your 1st amendment rights. Some states actually believe they can supersede the highest law in the land. They've done exactly that in NY. My carrying a firearm... anywhere... does not deprive anybody of life, liberty, or property without due course of law. If I do end up shooting someone, if it is found to be outside the legal framework set forth as due course of law, then I am subject to my own liberty or life being taken away by due course of law. Blaming guns for violence is like blaming the Boeing for September 11. |
At the university level it varies. In my situation, supposedly ALL weapons are banned in the code of conduct in the student handbook, so they could get pissy over a Leatherman if they really wanted to. I haven't seen anything on the HR side, but I would imagine there is a similar policy for University employees. Like I said earlier, I'm currently taking all my classes as a non-admitted, non-degree seeking student, so I've never even seen the student handbook. Fancy speak for "save $400 per semester on student fees" because everything still accumulates and applies normally. Hell, I've even been meeting with advisors in my major. I'm going to seek admission for my last 2 semesters so I don't get F'd out of the last few classes in the registration order. To be honest, I don't think there's anything they could actually do to me if I did get discovered as a CCW since it is enforced by policy and not by law. The U is open enrollment by state mandate, I'm not admitted to a college to get kicked out of. Only an idiot would make it an issue proactively, so I'm not worrying about it. Worst case scenario they would informally use it as a reason to find reasons to not admit me, in which case I would just transfer my credits to a different school and graduate from there. As it stands, I'm currently more like a courier who makes regular deliveries within a workplace that bans its employees from carrying. Sure I "work" there, but I'm not employed there. I really think the original purpose of the policy was to keep kids from bringing closets full of guns with them when they move into the dorms, cuz you KNOW some avid duck hunter moved into the dorm during freshman orientation with an armful of shotguns. Next thing you know, there's a nice broad policy in place they can apply when they need/want to. |
| There are a number of ccw undershirts that would be more secure AND a faster draw than your backpack. In your situation I'd suggest one of these. |
I did a similar thing for a few months while we were in the house hunting process. I carried a USP compact with me everywhere in a backpack. It never left my sight. I had the same worries that you shared, and always made sure it was either with me, or locked in my truck out of site. I did find a Camelbak pack specifically designed with CCW in mind. Although still not the easiest to draw from, it would be easier than other back packs. It has a hidden compartment in the bottom with the opening towards your body. It has a rigid box around the compartment with room for spare mags and other stuff if you wanted to carry it there. These are not the best pics, but will give you an idea of how it is set up. They also offer a waist pack that looks like any other hydration waist pack, but is designed for CCW. I may still end up with one or the other as they seem to look commonplace enough not to scream gun.   
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| My concern now for normal carry is that the consequences of printing on campus are far too significant. If I got "busted" carrying on campus, not only would there be the likelihood of a hard takedown by the cops, but it would also create a ton of bad press for CCW. If I carry, it must be complete and uncompromiseable concealment. So as a result, I'm really liking the idea of carrying in a bag. Quicker than an ankle holster. |