The topic of Gun control has not been a light debate, due to the drastic increase in Mass Shootings, since the year 2000. Although, Gun Control is a heavily weighted topic, the discussion and new Texas policy under Higher Education, is Campus Carry, is also packing heat. Campus Carry is the latest Texas policy, Senate Bill 11, which was passed by Governor Greg Abbott on June 1st, 2015. Campus Carry is a law that allows concealed licensed handgun owners to carry a concealed firearm on university campuses. Now this law does not give individuals the right to “display” a firearm on campus property, but it allows for licensed to concealed owners to carry a handgun on the premise. Despite this law being added in June of 2015, the bill will not go into act until August 1, 2016 and with the law comes discretion. The law gives universities the chance to have discretion to monitor campus carry or complete ban campus carry on that campus. With this law being in effect, a lot of Texas residents feel as if their college students safety is at risk, knowing that twenty-one year old adults, with the reputation of partying and drinking, are now eligible to carry a weapon on campus. Despite many believing that Governor Abbott made the wrong choice of signing this bill, the pros greatly outweigh the cons of this matter.
One of the first arguments conveyed by individuals that are against campus carry is that, Guns on campus would lead to a dramatic increase in violent crimes. According to
Texas, along with several other states signed a bill allowing concealed carry of firearms on campus, believing “that mass murderers target gun-free zones, including colleges and universities that ban firearms on campus” (Defilippis & Hughes). Furthermore, it is stated that gun advocates not only believe that firearms could obviate massacres on campus but also prevent sexual assault. Defilippis and Hughes argue that claims such as these are flawed and ignore the risks that come with allowing students and faculty to carry guns on school
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” declares National Rifle Association 's President Wayne LaPierre. But, does this statement really hold true on college campuses? Considerations of allowing a student or others to conceal and carry a firearm on college campuses causes a tremendous amount of controversy in the U.S.. The heated debate surrounding campus carry began after the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech reported Dennis A. Henigan, former Vice-President of the Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Although eight states have passed provisions allowing concealed weapons on public campuses and several other states allow campuses to decide if they are allowed, instead colleges should take a holistic view and approach to provide a robust security program, safety training, communication network and guidance on behavior awareness for faculty and students. As States continue to pass campus carry laws the colleges continue to funnel the majority of their focus dedicated to passing the law. This has eroded and overshadowed the end result, which is to protect students and faculty. Campuses should not allow students to carry guns on campus. By providing this false sense of security it dilutes the opportunity to implement tools, train and provide strategies to improve campus safety.
controlled on each campus throughout the state. The University of Texas in Austin is one of the universities that is required to comply with the new regulation. After reading some articles discussing Campus Carry, I realized there were compelling arguments in support of and in opposition to this expansion of gun rights. While some students support Campus Carry, others are quite concerned and feel that it may very well threaten their safety. In this essay, I will analyze the arguments made in support and opposition to the law, how the law may affect the students and faculty on campus, and provide alternate solutions which could provide the desired result.
With backpacks in tow and pencils in hand, college students crisscross campus with stress of acing the test, hardly thinking about their safety. This was the case on a clear Tuesday at the University of Texas on September 28th, 2010. Students fled from a mask gunman carrying an AK-47 and shooting randomly around campus. Nineteen-year-old Colton Tooley, wearing a black mask, eventually killed himself in the library. Remarkably, no one else was injured or killed. (MSNBC) This was not the case in 1966 when 16 people where killed with 32 injured by a gunman in the UT clock tower. The debate still wages on to allow concealed guns to be carried on college campus in Texas despite a recent bill that failed to pass. The US Constitutional Second
The idea of Concealed Carry arms at universities is a controversial topic for both students and faculty on whether guns should be allowed or banned on campuses throughout the United States. The idea of Concealed Carry Arms is a controversial topic because it represents both protection and fear as no one knows who has a weapon, whether they have it legally or even if they know how to use it properly and safely. Also, nobody knows of someone else’s intentions with Concealed Carry Arms as they could use that gun for protection or murder. The idea of allowing Concealed Carry Arms on campus is a controversial topic that could affect universities and campuses in the United States.
Concealed carry and college campuses are two major topics currently in the media, yet these two topics are rarely used in unison, until now. The topic of whether or not concealed carry should be allowed on college campuses is a now mainstream debate with multiple views and numerous differentiating opinions. Many of the general public question if campus police is capable enough to protect a university’s enormous student body? Another commonly discussed issue is if concealed handguns actually do deter crime, and if they are capable of aiding in stopping a mass shooting spree? Or if guns on campus, carried by fellow classmates would make students as a whole feel more cautious or on the opposing hand make students feel more secure with guns carried on campus? If guns are allowed on campus, how will this affect a growing student’s ideology? These questions and many more are highly spoken of in our social media based generation, the answers to these questions help to improve our knowledge on this debate of concealed carry on college campuses, which will lead us to form our own individual opinions on this debate topic based on the facts and evidence presented.
Gun ownership is on the rise and even college students want firearms now. Since 1999 college students owning firearms for protection has increased over 19 percent (DiMauro 17). With this rise whether or not these numbers should increase has become a heated issue. As of now 26 colleges allow concealed carry on campuses, totaling in over 70 campuses(Burnett) and many others are in consideration. Organizations such as Students for Concealed Carry are at work to educate the public on the truths of how on campus carry would to some degree benefit college students, professors, and all visitors. Firearms can be and should be allowed on college campuses primarily because it is a not only a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution but also
In many states across the United States, laws have been passed regarding carrying guns on campus. In states where they do allow students to conceal a firearm they must meet certain criteria. For example only students over the age of 21 are able to legally carry a firearm on campus with a handgun license. As mentioned in the beginning many any states have passed this law, but across the United States there are still a lot of states who debate on whether they should allow their own students to conceal a firearm on campus. Back in the 1900’s many students had access to rifles because it was part of a sport. Across the United States hunting was a hobby for many college students. The idea of student’s being allowed to carry firearms on campus often carries different emotions for people across the United States but it’s important to understand the different arguments related to the topic because we are part of the problem. Citizens take the time to preach what is wrong with this country but in reality what are you really doing in regards to keeping our citizens safe, is anyone safe in this country, are our own college students safe when stepping foot on campus?
We all hear about mass shooting where a number of people are killed and we pray that we are never caught in a situation like the one at Virginia Tech or Oikos University. But the likelihood that it happens at your school, your kids school, or your friends school is at an all time high. From 2000 to 2010 nearly 70 people were killed in college campus shootings in the United States. This number more than doubles the number of killing from the 25 years prior to 2000. Not only are their more shooting but there are a proliferating number of sexual assaults happening on college campuses, in 2009 alone the number of sexual assault on college campuses was nearly 2,600 (Arrigo 120). This combined with mass media coverage has generated passionate debates on how to best stop mass shootings and other violent crimes on college campuses. Many pro-gun activists have started to push for and endorse bills allowing students and faculty to conceal carry handguns on campuses. Campus-carry is a relatively new phenomenon and there is little to no evidence to corroborate the idea that it increases campus security. Those who have not gone through rigorous instructional courses, like police officers, will be unable to stop a mass shooting, sexual assaults, or other violent crimes on college campuses. Instead, allowing students to carry will increase crime rates on campuses and will result in more fatalities due to guns(Ultius). This is why students should not be
This issue of campus carry has been around for a long while, because some people believe that guns ensure safety and others believe they bring danger. While on one side, there are pro-gun activists who want to see the college community safe from crime, on the other side stand the peace activists who want to prevent violence on campus caused by guns. The controversy has been brought into the light of the media recently with UT Austin’s legalization of concealed handguns on campus.
There are several debates among people that remain in a repetitive and vicious cycle of what is right, and what is wrong. Concealed carry on college campuses is one of those noticeable arguments. As the years pass by, gun rights on college campuses have become a touchy subject that is normally avoided at dinner tables and formal events. The laws concerning concealed carry on college campuses vary from state to state, and also from campus to campus. Several factors about concealed carry either have people uneasy while others adamantly fight for more gun rights on college campuses and universities. Should concealed carry be allowed on campus, and are people taking into account school violence, learning environment, crime, student’s safety and constitutional rights?
In the United States of America, there is a rising epidemic happening and its gun violence and the violence will not only rise, but triple if guns are permitted on college campuses and inevitably cause a ripple of issues. With several campus shootings, the most fatal being in 2007, the shooting that occurred at Virginia Tech University, a number of states are pushing harder to consider legislation about whether or not to permit concealed guns on college campuses and to obliterate the existing firearm regulations. This is not Colleges and Universities purpose; they’re for learning and experiences and amongst other things, not about guns. Students and faculty should not be allowed to carry firearms onto college campuses, firearms are illegal on most campuses, and that is how it should remain. In 2015, the number of colleges and universities in the United
Gun control has been a big topic for the past decade in the united states. These debates will rise and fall time in and time out after something horrific happens in the state. Anti-Gun supporters do not realize that it is extremely difficult to regulate something in the states that is a big portion of our economy.Would stricter gun laws change anything? So far statistically It has been proven otherwise one must consider how a citizen would defend themselves when they are faced with terror. How will they defend themselves if there are restrictions on guns? It seems that some states that have stricter gun laws are where the most shootings and also where more terrorists attack take place. It seems that gun control is only pushed when shootings gradually get worse and worse. But why are these anti gun groups not speaking up when police brutality happens or when a racial hate crime occurs? Anti-Gun groups do not look at the bigger picture and try to understand that it is more than guns. Gun control almost plays Zero role in murders
The United States has 88.8 guns per 100 people, or about 270,000,000 guns, which is the highest total and per capita number across the globe. The current public gun control debate in the United States seems to be placed on standby until it is sparked up by a major mass shooting. There were at least 126 mass shootings between January 2000 and July 2014.(pro). Opponents of more gun laws accuse supporters of using a horrific event to further a lost cause, saying that more laws would not have prevented the shootings. Advocates of more gun control often want more laws to try to prevent the mass shootings and call for smart gun laws and background checks . Pew Research Center did