Right to Carry on Campus

In recent weeks, Richmond's student newspaper, The Collegian, has printed many editorials about students' right to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. The Red and Black at UGA has had similar editorials so I guess this is a pretty hot topic right now. With that said, here are my two cents.
I understand the desire to feel safe on a college campus. I can see how people feel that carrying a weapon would provide them with that safety. I don't think the argument follows that carrying a weapon creates (or even fosters) a safer environment. My reasoning behind this is that while the person holding the weapon may feel like they have some tangible defense against something bad happening, a gun really won't do them any good. In fact, I'd argue that it would harm them.
Assuming that the person with the gun is not the person responsible for the shooting, the do-gooders responding to the threat don't help the situation. Their lack of formal "active shooter" training could allow their nerves to take control of their bodies. Without training it would be natural to react to someone running down the hall way trying to get into rooms as the person doing the shooting. This isn't necessarily the case as it might be another student trying to escape the carnage. Or, instinct might tell you that anyone with a gun is the bad guy. But, what if other students also carry weapons and are in a similar hunt for the real shooter? How would you distinguish them from the real shooter? And, once you've made the distinction, do you trust your fellow gun carriers to be able to make the same distinction so you aren't shot in confusion? Even if you only shoot people dressed a certain way (say, wearing black and body armor) that could fail as police begin to enter the building.
Once the decision is made by the police to enter the building, armed students then pose an additional threat. Police now have to (quickly) sort out the law abiding students wanting to do good from the shooter. If the shooter is still moving around the building this identification could waste valuable time.
Armed students (or others) also pose a communication problem. As 911 calls begin to arrive about the situation people may mistakenly view the students responding to the situation as additional shooters. This could yield a situation where police are expecting a team of 5 individuals to be roaming around the building when only 1 exists.
Ignoring the rare possibility that students would be on a campus with a shooting, guns still pose risks. What would occur if one were to misfire during class? Or, if someone were to fall down a flight of stairs? These risks must also be accounted for in any plan that allows people to carry weapons on campus. The security of the weapons when not being carried would also pose a potential problem. If a person licensed to carry a weapon fails to properly secure it all sorts of problems could develop. Their nut job of a roommate could decide to take revenge on a cheating significant others' object of affection. Their drunk roommate could come in late one night and decide to play Russian roulette with the gun. No way exists to stop these from happening as roommates could learn the combination to a safe or the location of keys.
Debating the costs and benefits of carrying concealed weapons on campuses will no doubt be around for a long time and will always have its supporters. Until these supporters can fix the fundamental problems with having a concentrated number of weapons in one place controlled by (mostly) untrained people, the debate won't end. Even if these problems are surmounted it ignores that we already pay people to take care of this sort of thing for us. We even provide these people with highly specialized training so that they can do a really good job when the time comes. We call these people police officers.