Wave Magazine Online Jacksonville University News Hub
Two JU professors were recently quoted in a Folio Weekly cover story examining gun culture in the wake of high-profile local and national shootings.
Florida tops the nation in active concealed-carry permits, reaching the 1 million mark on Dec. 12, the Folio article stated, citing numbers from the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. Georgia is second, with 600,000 active permits issued; Texas ranks third, with 524,000 permits, followed by Indiana, with 420,000 permits.
Walker Blanton, a long-time JU history professor and lifelong hunter, said he was a gun rights supporter.
“I think responsible ownership is a good thing. I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment,” Blanton told Folio reporter Ron Word.
Tougher gun laws would not have prevented massacres around the country, including the slayings of the 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School, he said in the article.
“The real problem is the individuals who choose to act out this way,” he told Folio, adding that those intent on doing harm don’t care about the gun laws. “They will find a way.”
Meanwhile, JU sociology instructor Shelley Grant, who has worked in the mental health field, told Word better mental health care and availability might solve some of the problem.
“The gun culture comes out of peoples’ need to be safe and peoples’ fear. We are scared,” Grant said in the article. “We need to look at the underlying causes — things like education, poverty and mental health,” she said, adding that mentoring of youngsters could reduce the amount of violence.
To read the entire article, click here.