Regents at the University of Texas are having a hard time coming to grips with the reality of campus carry, and their unwarranted fears and the ignorance of faculty aren’t helping the matter.

The University of Texas System’s regents on Thursday postponed until July a vote on proposed rules allowing concealed handguns in campus classrooms and buildings due to concerns that some might be too restrictive.

Regents said they needed more time to consider proposals at the flagship campus in Austin that allow teachers to ban weapons from their offices, and prohibit keeping a bullet in the chamber of a semi-automatic weapon.

Gun-rights groups have criticized both proposed rules as impractical and dangerous, and the board signaled they could be changed at the July meeting.

UT-Austin teachers have said they should able to ban weapons from their offices, where they often meet with students to discuss grades and academic progress. The ammunition provision was included to prevent accidental discharge of a weapon.

State law will require public universities to allow concealed handgun license holders to bring their weapons into campus buildings and classrooms starting Aug. 1. Private colleges and universities have the option of allowing guns, but none do.

While I’m certainly biased towards liberty and the natural human right to bear arms, I think that Bearing Arms play it very much down the center when it comes to actual gun safety (not “gun safety,” meaning “gun control”).

Let’s start with the reality that competent firearms instructors universally insist that defensive handguns should be carried with a round in the chamber. There is simply no disagreement on this matter among the “name” instructors or top shooting schools in the United States. The reason why is as simple as it is practical: unloaded guns are of no use. The long and documented history of defensive gun uses in law enforcement and regular citizen contexts shows that the defender will typically be attempting to ward off/deflect an attack with the off-side arm, while drawing and firing with the strong-side. If the defender has to drop that off-side arm to chamber a round, he’s opening his head to attack, and he’s going to lose the fight.

Once holstered in a quality holster that protects the trigger, a loaded firearm is perfectly safe. We have yet to cover a single story of a loaded firearm in a quality Kydex, leather, thermoplastic or hybrid holster “going off” while simply sitting in a holster.

Negligent discharges with defensive handguns almost always occur during one of two events.

1. chambering a cartridge/attempting to unload a firearm
2. unholstering/reholstering a handgun

If the goal of the University of Texas System’s regents is to maximize safety, their response policy should be simple.

Do not draw your weapon to load or unload it at any point while on campus. Leave it in the holster unless needed to save lives.

That’s not hard to grasp, is it?