Student group has ‘positive’ take on guns

With schools on edge over shootings, the mere mention of guns has become taboo in campuses across the country, but one San Jose State University club is hoping to rehabilitate their image among college students.

Students for Firearm Safety was founded last spring semester by SJSU graduate Aaron Miller, a senior at the time, pursuing a degree in justice studies. Since then, the club has grown to more than 100 members strong, and by the end of a recent university activities fair, it had a long list of names of interested students.

“Most people don’t know about gun culture or they have a negative view of it,” said Matt Reddy, the president of Students for Firearm Safety, who sported a blue Smith & Wesson shirt while manning his club’s stand last month. He said the club is all about “spreading the positive gun culture message here in the Bay Area.”

That message is in no way political, insists Miller, who is now studying to be a police officer. “We are not promoting any policy one way or another,” he said, adding, “We are not affiliated with the NRA.”

Instead, “it’s a sports thing, it’s a hobby thing,” club president Reddy said.

Students for Firearms Safety offers stu-

dents crash courses on proper gun use and storage, educating them about relevant gun laws. And since guns are not allowed on college campuses, the group arranges to take members to shooting ranges where they train with privately-owned firearms.

Not all club members, however, joined to support the club.

“We had anti-gun people in our club last semester,” said Miller. “It was good to have them. It stirred up a lot of conversation.”

A heated exchange over guns was exactly what motivated Miller to start the club in the first place. After getting into a debate with his criminal law professor over guns last spring, Miller noticed lots of students approaching him after class saying, “I didn’t even agree with everything you said,” but “you argue really well.”

They were interested in trying out his guns, so Miller started going “shooting with 15 students,” which from “word of mouth” turned into 60, and soon after hit more than 100.

“I’ve been shooting them all my life,” said Mark Castillo, a sophomore who excitedly signed up for the club’s mailing list. He started when his cousins introduced him to the shooting range at the age of 9. “I love shooting guns,” he said.

Jocelyn Aguilar, a freshman who plans to major in forensic science, was referred to the gun safety club by other forensic science students who had heard about it. She too left the club her email en route to sign up for other extracurriculars.

Not all were thrilled that gun enthusiasts have a university-sanctioned club.

“I think campus is the wrong setting” for that kind of club, said Frankie Mendoza, a 2015 San Jose State grad, who now teaches dance on campus. “Around here people aren’t hunting deer in the city. It might inspire people to want to use even more.”

Lauryn Crawford, a student assistant at SJSU’s Student Involvement Office, said “all organizations go through training for safety before they become recognized.” They also need a minimum of eight members, a faculty adviser, a constitution and GPA requirement on its members, but apart from that, “the process is not too difficult,” she said.

Students who had used guns before seemed inclined to find benefits to the group’s presence on campus. “I’m a part of the military, ROTC,” said Timothy Nichols, a senior studying history, “I support any group that teaches people how to use a firearm well.”

“I think there’s zero harm in it because it’s a safety thing,” he said. “It can only help reduce accidental deaths.”