In the wake of the Virginia Tech slayings, college students at Texas State University, the University of Texas at Austin and across the country are joining the non-profit Students for Concealed Carry on Campus to protest gun restrictions at school.

Supporters are convinced that recent school shootings, most notably the April 16 slayings at Virginia Tech, have made it clear that "gun-free zones" serve to disarm law-abiding citizens "who might be able to mitigate such tragedies," according to the organization's Web site.

Critics are appalled at the push, citing high suicide rates and irresponsible behavior among college students.

"One can only imagine the nightmarish scenarios that would become possible if the gun lobby were successful in forcing guns onto college campuses," said Brian Siebel, Senior Attorney for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Violence's Legal Action Project. "Will students bring their AK-47 assault rifles with them to show off while guzzling beer at college keggers?"

A recent report from the Brady Campaign regarding firearms on campuses cited high levels of drug and alcohol abuse by students as a major concern, and that much of the support for greater access to firearms is an overreaction.

"The bottom line fact is that colleges are safer places than the surrounding communities and we think that is in part due to strong gun policies," said Siebel. "Have we no sanctuaries left in our society?"

Most states allow citizens to carry a concealed handgun with varying restrictions. Many prohibit weapons on school campuses, while others allow schools to make their own restrictions.

Utah is the only state that allows students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

Supporters disagree with the decision by states to leave schools with the ability to write their own firearms policies, and have sought to influence state legislatures and school administrations to overturn them. They claim that administrators typically view this choice as a question of liability, and therefore nearly always rule to prohibit concealed carry on campus.

"Most school administrators would rather risk having 32 dead students and faculty members (from a Virginia Tech-style massacre) for which they are not liable than risk having one injured student or faculty member (from an accident involving a firearm the administrators chose to allow on campus) for which they might be held liable," said the SCCC in a Web statement.

In protest against such state laws and school policies SCCC launched the Empty Holster Protest Oct. 22-26, when participants, many at Texas State, attended classes with empty holsters strapped to their person; a symbol of the gun owner's inability to respond to threats with lethal force.

"I see it potentially causing more harm than good," said Josh Whitcomb, president of ACC's Student Government Association. "If I was a college administrator I would squash it."

Much of the conflict is over the individual right to feel safe and secure, and the collective right represented by trained police officers, according to the Brady Campaign.

"It may make an individual feel safer, but not the campus as a whole," he said. "Schools are for education, for learning; I don't see the logic."

Government Professor John Bridges said he did not think that allowing concealed weapons is called for at ACC, considering the low levels of crime around each of the college's seven main campuses.

However, Bridges critiqued the Brady Campaign's argument that more guns would lead to more killings. Following relaxation of concealed carry laws, "we haven't seen widespread use of (properly licensed and concealed) handguns in disputes, for example," he said. "Would it lead to more killing inadvertently? It hasn't come about."

But Bridges cautioned that road rage incidents and campus disputes may be comparing "apples to oranges," and that the result would be hard to predict.

Regardless of the controversy and reluctance of colleges to allow guns on campus, the push has support among prominent politicians. Governor Rick Perry said in May that concealed and properly licensed guns should be allowed everywhere.

"The idea that you're going to exempt [weapons] from a particular place is nonsense," Perry said.

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