Opening Up U.S. Campuses to Guns
Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 6:22 PMBy Shannon Barnett
Opening Up U.S. Campuses to Guns
AmmoLand Gun News
USA --(Ammoland.com)- After several recent college campus shooting incidents, many states are opening up their legislative agenda to the idea allowing students to carry guns on campus.
Utah is the only state that currently allows concealed carry at all public colleges and universities. Other than that, there is a mix between states that prohibit concealed carry on college campuses and states that leave the decision up to the college or university.
There’s a lot of talk about this issue, with many people “up in arms” about the possibility of a college student having the right to carry a gun to school. Even some gun rights advocacy groups are against this idea. Even I questioned the proposal at first thought, but I now see things in a new light.
It is ridiculous for anyone to believe that allowing students to carry concealed weapons on campus will change anything. This legislation won’t “open up” campuses to guns; campuses are already open to guns! If they weren’t, the gunmen of the past campus shooting incidents would not have been able to accomplish their attacks.
Although it may not be legal, it is easy to carry a concealed weapon on campus today.
Yes, this legislation will increase the amount of guns carried on campus, but it will increase the amount of legal and safe guns carried on campus. Right now, the only guns on campus are those carried by authorized university law enforcement and security and those carried by bad people looking to do bad things. Those students who have a concealed handgun license refrain from carrying their guns on campus, because they know they could be expelled or arrested.
In the event of a campus shooting, university law enforcement and security may not have enough coverage to stop an attack from a rogue gunman, but they are rarely present in classrooms and hallways where attacks often seem to occur. If students who are licensed to carry a firearm were allowed to bring their weapon to school, they could provide protection for themselves and those around them in the event of a school attack.
Although I do believe that students should be allowed to carry a gun on campus, I do think there should be a system in place to log which students have a gun license and choose to carry on campus and which students do not choose to carry on campus or do not have a gun license. This could be registered when the student goes to get his/her student identification badge. Campuses should then verify the student’s concealed handgun license and require them to attend a one-day conference to train them on how to react during a potential campus attack. Requiring this training will solidify their responsibility of carrying a weapon on campus.
Because many college campuses are open to the public, it is imperative that we give students the right to protect themselves and their peers. To learn more about our side of this debate, visit the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus website.
Tags: Concealed Carry, Concealed Carry on Campus, Self Defense, Shannon BarnettAbout: Shannon Barnett owns the site Careers in Criminal Justice. In her spare time, she enjoys writing articles for various other sites on many topics of interest.
