12 Guns on Campus
It
is a known fact that guns are dangerous weapons. Numerous shootings have been
recorded over the past few years, some major and some minor. If we know that even
in the most experienced hands accidents happen, then why do some college
campuses allow students to carry guns on campus? The Virginia Tech shooting is
a perfect example of what can happen even under the most watchful security that
is on campus. Students in college are far too young to be worrying about if one
of their classmates is going to bring a gun to class, or even if their teacher
is. There are probably a lot of heated arguments on campus just like everywhere
else, so imagine adding guns to that fight between two young adults. Having
guns on campus should be outlawed because even though guns can be used to protect
others, they can also be used to hurt others.
Students shouldn’t be allowed to have guns on
campus. It encourages violence and raises the chances of a shooting on campus.
There are many people that feel this way. Republican State Senator Jeff
Wentworth said- “The
killer at Virginia Tech was a deranged, suicidal madman. That kind of person will surely not be scared
of students with guns, especially considering he planned to kill himself anyway.”
“It is questionable how many
deaths, if any, could have been prevented if the right student just happened to
have a gun during the shooting at Virginia Tech. It is indisputable, however,
that if no one had a gun that day, no one would have died. Ensuring that a gun
won’t end up in the hands of a murderer is a far safer approach than hoping a
student will come to the rescue” (Coleman 1). “If a school shooter was in a classroom, shooting at
students and the professor, how would the police know who was the shooter if
two or three people have drawn weapons? What if three different people are
firing weapons? Who do the police focus on?” (Stacie Spring). ““Gun control advocates respond that allowing
students to carry concealed weapons would create more violence, not less.” (
Will Buchanan)
Students
with mental or suicidal health problems, or possibly getting into an argument
could worsen the situation of having guns on campus. If students with suicidal
thoughts are allowed to carry a gun on them, this will heighten the risk of
them taking their own lives. “Letting college students have firearms is much
more likely to increase the death toll. Young adults in heated arguments tend
to act rashly” (Sarita Smith). “College students are at elevated
risks for suicide, with about 1,100 successful suicides and an additional
24,000 attempts every year.” “If a gun
is used in a suicide attempt, more than 90% of the time it is fatal, compared
to a 3% fatality rate for suicide attempts by drug overdose. “ This is
why guns in the home increase the risks of suicide fivefold. How many more
suicide fatalities will we see on college campuses if guns become widely
available?” (The Case against Guns on Campus) “I think it’s a bad idea,” said Senate President Steve Morris,
R-Hugoton. He said combining concentrations of young people and guns doesn’t
make sense. Students cannot learn
in an environment with guns. (Rothschild). “Since the Virginia Tech shooting, campus-carry laws have been
introduced and stymied more than 50 times in seven states”(Patrik Jonsson)
In a classroom full of guns, students would not be able to focus
on learning, and also teachers would have to worry about students showing up
with a plan to shoot one of them. “How can even a responsible gun owner know how to properly handle a school
shooting situation without proper training?” (Stacie Spring). “Protecting free expression of teachers and students is the
most obvious way in which academic freedom must be secured.” “Teachers
must be able to address even the most controversial subjects, in their research
and writing endeavors as well as in the classroom, without fear that they will
be punished for challenging conventional thought or espousing provocative ideas.”
“Students must have the same ability
to pursue knowledge without risk of being penalized or restrained by those who
might disagree with the students' views.”(The Case against Guns on
Campus). House Democratic Leader Paul Davis of Lawrence, whose district
includes Kansas University, said, “I think that we need to let the Regents
institutions police those issues themselves. They know what the security
concerns are, better than the 165 legislators.” As you can see there are a lot of concerns that
come with campus carry, there should be a law passed in all states that
prevents this, but unfortunately many other people disagree and say that this
is a right that the students should have for their own protection.
Some people don’t agree
with this point of view, they think that having guns on campus is more of a
good thing than a bad thing and that it’s for protection. Many people think that
this should be included in their rights. “Students for Concealed Carry on Campus say that not only is carrying a
concealed weapon on campuses a "legal entitlement to self-defense,"
it is needed on campuses today (Sara). I totally disagree with this idea that
people have that giving such young people guns would solve everything, their
ideas are wrong and all this will lead to is tragedy. “I don’t think two people having guns and
firing them in public is that good of an idea,” said Nate Hightower, who was at
South Mountain Community College in Phoenix in 2008 when a former student
opened fire in a dispute with another young man, injuring three people(
Ojalvo).
My
solution to this problem of having guns on campus would have to be that there
to be a law that bans them on campus nationwide, and that to ensure the
protection of these students a much more complex security system be applied to
the situations at the colleges. “Self-defense is a human right”: I will
wholeheartedly agree with this. But at what point does a person’s right to
self-defense begin to infringe on the safety of others? (McDaniel). Also, a lot of schools are now
trying to make the security very effective. “USC is like a small city with 30,000 combined
students and we're an open campus in the middle of Los Angeles," said
David Carlisle of the USC Department of Public Safety. "We keep it safe
with over 220 personnel, to patrol this campus 365 days a year. At many
universities including USC, special card keys are required to enter dorms. USC
has motion detector cameras and a command center where, on Monday, news of the
Virginia Tech shootings was constant. But incoming freshmen are not told what
to do if there is a shooter on campus because Carlisle said that is "an
extreme situation."(Johnson).
In
conclusion, guns on campus can cause more bad than good with all the things
that college kids get into like drinking, and stupid fights, and also issues
with suicide. People should care about this issue because it is their kids that
they are sending off to an unfamiliar place and I know that all parents want
their children to be safe when they are away. This is an important issue that
will be faced and we need an answer to keep all these kids safe and far from harm’s
way.
CITATIONS:
·
Coleman, Jess. "Colleges Are Safest With
No Guns."Polycimic. (2011): 1. Print.
<http://www.policymic.com/articles/1312/colleges-are-safest-with-no-guns>.
·
"The
Case Against Guns On Campus." n. page. Print.
<http://www.keepgunsoffcampus.org/brady.html>.
·
Rothschild,
Scott. "Kansas senate leader rejects bill to allow guns on college
campuses ." (2012): n. page. Print.
<http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/feb/10/kansas-senate-leader-rejects-bill-allowing-guns-co/>.
·
Smith,
Starita. "Firearms Shouldn't Be
Allowed on Campuses." McClatchy - Tribune News Service. 02 Jun 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher.Web. 25
Sep 2012.
·
Jonsson,
Patrik. "Gun Control: Will Campus Carry Get Boost From
Virginia Tech Ruling?." Christian Science Monitor. 15
Mar 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 25 Sep 2012.
·
Spring,
Stacie. "Guns on Campus Fail to
Serve Educational Purpose." McClatchy - Tribune Business News. 03 Jan 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 25 Sep 2012.
·
Spring,
Stacie. "Guns on Campus Fail to
Serve Educational Purpose." McClatchy - Tribune Business News. 03 Jan 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 25 Sep 2012.
·
Buchanan,
Will. "Three Years After Virginia
Tech Shooting, College Gun Bans Prevail." Christian Science Monitor. 16
Apr 2010: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 27 Sep 2012
·
Sara
, Lenz. "Should guns be allowed on college campuses." (2011): n.
page. Print. <http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700114074/Should-
·
Ojalvo,
Holly. "Should guns be permitted on college campuses." (2011): n.
page. Print. <http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/03/should-
·
McDaniel,
Leah. "guns on campus pose threat to safety." (2012): n. page. Print.
<http://www.asuherald.com/opinion/guns-on-campus-pose-threat-to-safety-1.2725736
·
Johnson,
Caitlin. "Campus rampage turns focus on security." (2009): n. page.
Print. <http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500202_162-2693015.html>.
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