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Joe Driver, a Republican state representative from Garland and concealed handgun license holder, takes umbrage at “an imaginary line” around college campuses inside of which he cannot pack heat.

He’s not alone. With two other Republicans and two Democrats, Driver has authored House Bill 1893 to legalize firearms on campuses. The bill has 38 Republican and 13 Democratic co-authors. Its companion, Senate Bill 1164 by Republican Sen. Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, has eight Republican and two Democratic co-authors.

Statistically, campuses are safe, with much lower crime rates than their surrounding cities. According to a U.S. Department of Justice study, 93 percent of crimes committed against college students from 1995 to 2002 occurred off-campus.

“Statistically, lots of places in Texas are safe,” Driver says. “We never know when that statistic is going to change.”

Driver’s bill aside, handgun carriers in Texas must be at least 21, pass background checks, and complete around 10 hours of training. “Keep in mind, we are talking about a very small part of the campus population that would even be eligible,” he says. “Some professors, some grad students, and some seniors.” At large campuses like UT-Austin, that could add up to several thousand.

Virginia Tech’s Seung-Hui Cho and UT’s own Charles Whitman were over 21 when they went on their respective shooting sprees. Background checks are supposed to weed out such people. Driver admits “it would be possible” for someone dangerous to slip through the cracks in the system.

On Jan. 27, UT’s Student Government passed a resolution, in response to Driver’s bill, upholding a campus ban on concealed weapons. Driver’s bill would override such local bans. He has high hopes for the bill, he says, unless “the gun-control advocates try some tricks and emotionalize” the debate.

John Woods, the molecular biology grad student who authored the UT ban, was an undergrad at Virginia Tech when his girlfriend was shot and killed in that school’s infamous 2007 massacre.

A Harvard School of Public Health study on “guns and gun threats at college” concludes that “predictors for being threatened with a gun while at college include personally having a gun for protection.”