By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Board

When my daughter goes off to college this fall, she won't be carrying a Glock or any other kind of gun. But some students, after the Virginia Tech shootings a year ago, want to be able to pack heat on campus. It's a bad idea.

My daughter will be safer on campus than almost anyplace else, precisely because of laws that prohibit guns at almost all universities across the nation.

In fact, if students start carrying guns at her college, she becomes less safe.

The pro-gun lobby remains steadfast on wanting to "protect" students, as this story shows.

But the only fact that truly matters is whether school shootings have gone way up in recent years.

They haven't. In fact, they remain indelibly etched in our brains and on the front pages of newspapers precisely because shootings on college campuses are so rare.

The debate will continue, of course, stoked by the gun lobby and its patently ridiculous "let's arm everyone" campaign.

Keeping guns off campuses is the smart thing to do to keep students safe.