Melanie Oliver sees it as a gun — nothing more than a weapon used to kill.
Lee Hamel sees polished steel cradled in a carved piece of maple lumber — a finely crafted instrument used for hunting, target shooting or defense.
Guns have always evoked a wide range of emotions, but the debate over guns and the right to carry them is heating up in the wake of last week’s shootings at Northern Illinois University in which a gunman killed five students and himself, and last year’s attack at Virginia Tech, where a student shot and killed 32 people, then himself.
Nearly two weeks ago, four guns and ammunition were discovered in a student’s car parked on the Marietta College campus. Although school and law enforcement officials said the car’s owner, student Robert Walker, was a gun enthusiast with no intention of harming anyone, the incident made students and community members nervous.
Walker was suspended indefinitely for violating the school’s policy against having weapons on campus and eventually charged with a fourth-degree felony concealed-carry violation. A warrant was recently issued for his arrest after he did not appear for a hearing in Marietta Municipal Court, although the prosecutor’s office said it is believed he left the country to be with his parents in Madrid, Spain.
The warrant has a pickup radius of only Washington and adjoining Ohio counties, meaning if Walker were stopped by police farther away, he would not be arrested on the local charge.
Several states are now considering allowing some students or faculty members to carry guns on campus, areas that have traditionally been gun-free zones, except for law enforcement.
“I wouldn’t feel safe if that was the case,” said Oliver, 24, of Marietta, who is a student at Washington State Community College. “It is a matter of trust, and you can’t trust anyone you don’t know.”
Those in favor of the measure say law-abiding citizens should be allowed to defend themselves. A bill under consideration in Alabama would allow students at state-supported colleges and universities to carry guns if they had the proper licenses, had no criminal convictions, were in good standing with the university, completed a gun course and were participating in an ROTC military program. At least 10 other states are considering similar measures.
So far, nothing similar has been introduced in Ohio.
Hamel, 58, of Macksburg said he would support a measure to allow some students or faculty members to carry guns on campus.
“If there are people who can stop someone attempting to kill a bunch of people , it is better to have them than not,” Hamel said.
Ohio Rep. Jennifer Garrison, D-Marietta, said students would be safer if faculty members were armed. She said students probably should not have guns.
“Trained faculty members and administrators should be able to carry guns on campus to help keep students safe,” she said. “Students should feel safe on campuses, and parents should feel their children are safe when they are at school.”
Garrison said she expects the Legislature to take up the debate later this year.
Oliver said guns should be reserved for law enforcement and hunting only.
Hamel, a former Cleveland police officer, said some people don’t understand gun ownership.
“When I was in college I met a lot of folks from New York and other big cities who thought I was a barbarian because I had guns,” he said. “But they just didn’t understand. They weren’t raised around guns. In this part of Ohio and West Virginia, people still hunt and get a gun when they are very young and probably hunt their entire lives.”
Hamel said gun ownership is a right, but also a hobby and a potential investment. For the past 17 years he has been building guns, some of which have taken more than 500 hours to craft.
“At that point, it is almost like your baby. Once it is finished, you hand it to someone and you’re showing it around and you’re afraid someone is going to drop it,” he said.
Hamel’s latest work will be presented to the keynote speaker at the National Rifle Association’s annual banquet in May in Louisville, Ky.
