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Open Carry On Campus Essay

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Open Carry on Campus: Good or Bad?
Many students and faculty members fear that allowing weapons on campus may cause tension and hostility or even cause minor situations to rapidly escalate. Others feel as if open carry on campus is missing link to reducing the number of school shootings across the country. When it comes to allowing firearms on campus, some of the most important factors to consider are: how active shooter situations will be handled, why it is important to be on alert, and should first responders be the only one responsible campus safety. These are the factors that ultimately decided whether students and faculty will end up as victims or heroes in a state of crisis.
If students and faculty members are armed when an active shooter …show more content…

Sitting through an hour-long lecture or waiting in line to speak with financial aid are some examples of an average day on campus. It is during these times when students are least expecting tragedy to strike. A student may hear a loud noise and think nothing of it until they realize that noise was the sound of a shooting rampage that has reached their area and by that time it’s usually too late. Campus safety is everyone’s responsibility and remaining on alert is the only way to ensure less people are victimized. One of the first, and most memorable, attacks happened on August 1, 1966. Charles Whitman, a former marine, took rifles and other weapons to the observation deck atop the Main Building tower at The University of Texas- Austin, then randomly opened fire on the surrounding campus and streets. Over the next 96 minutes, far longer than the average active shooter attack, he shot and killed fifteen people. Included in the death toll was one unborn child, and injured thirty-one others. The incident ended when police reached Whitman and shot him dead. During this event, civilians played a vital role in assisting first responders in the take down of Whitman and Allen Crum, a 40-year-old bookstore manager and retired Air Force tail gunner, accompanied police up the tower in pursuit of Whitman. While Crum was armed, it solely because officers handed him a firearm to assist in Whitman’s take down.

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