Kendrick Wilson Contributing Writer

Just finished the big move into the dorms? Taking UA classes for the first time? Bring your books, cell phone and bike lock. Leave your gun back on the ranch in Texas.

Those little signs with a circle and red line through a gun have an important message to everyone on campus: no weapons allowed. Period.

So what harm could a small pistol in the purse of a so-called "law abiding" citizen (at least by the NRA's definition) on campus do? Plenty, says Rob Wilcox, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

"Any time a weapon is introduced into a situation, the chance that the situation can turn deadly is dramatically increased," he explained. "Anything from an argument to a burglary, which would otherwise not be deadly, can quickly escalate when a firearm is involved."

Plus, regardless of how many one-day seminars the NRA holds, most average citizens don't have the same training as law enforcement officials in using firearms and how to handle them.

"When you carry a concealed weapon, you decide when to use deadly force and how deadly that force will be," says Wilcox. So, depending on the individual's judgment, someone could be shot and killed for stealing a CD player.

I can see the headline already: "Student shoots and kills roommate after argument about leaving the light on at night." Sadly, otherwise law-abiding citizens use the deadly force they carry around with them for even more petty reasons.

As predictable as President Bush's butchering of words is the response from the gun lobby to weapons-free zones: "If someone isn't afraid of breaking the law to commit a violent crime, what's to stop them from violating the weapons-free zone law?"

The answer requires more than a well-polished sound byte. To begin with, weapons-free zones simply cannot eliminate the threat of violent crimes altogether. However, they reduce the threat with a multi-pronged approach.

Wilcox points out that weapons-free zones help law enforcement officers do their jobs.

"Weapons-free zones make it easier for police to identify a potential threat," he said. "If everyone is allowed to carry guns, it's more difficult to tell who is a threat and who isn't."

They reduce accidental firings, which account for nearly 15,000 deaths every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Weapons-free zones also reduce the chance of a situation involving law-abiding citizens escalating to the point that it becomes deadly.

Another reason the Arizona Board of Regents allowed our state's universities to adopt weapons-free zone policies is to protect academic freedom. While this may sound like something only a few paranoid students would complain about, imagine a heated discussion in a class with one of the participants sporting a handgun on his belt. Who knows how many concealed weapons could be in the room. I for one would not en§gage in any discussion I thought would persuade him or her to use that weapon.

Wilcox pointed to the city of Colorado Springs, Colo. as an excellent example of people's freedom of speech and expression being stifled by the presence of weapons. Colorado Springs' city council was traditionally pro-gun and advocated allowing people to carry weapons anywhere they chose.

The issue of individuals' right to carry guns was discussed strictly in theory from the vantage point of the city council's ivory tower until the matter was brought home in a hurry ÷ someone started bringing a gun to city council meetings.

Upon finding this intimidating, the city council immediately changed its stance and prohibited guns in its chambers. It takes no stretch of the imagination to visualize the intimidation factor of weapons if they were allowed on our campus.

Our campus is not crime-free, and will probably never be without bike thefts and, regrettably, a few crimes that are more serious. Victims of serious crimes on campus would probably not be comforted to know that our campus is safer because of the weapons-free zone that encompasses it. Nevertheless, we must strive to make our university a place where everyone can work, learn, study and feel safe.

The weapons-free zone is part of that effort, and our campus is less armed, with less potential for violence as a result. We're lucky we have it.

Kendrick Wilson is a political science junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.