Allowing College Students To Have Guns On Campus

David Skorton and Glenn Altschuler wrote the essay “Do We Really Need More Guns on Campus.” This essay focus on the guns on campus controversy. There are two sides that the authors explain: the side in favor and the side against. Every side has points to think about it. For example, some reasons to be against the conceal are the fights, the lack of experience and the drug abuse. The side in favor has good reason too, as the importance to stop a mass shooting, the right to bear arms and the secure feeling that the gun give.

Dear Mortimer I am writing this paper to persuade you to rethink your position concerning the preemption of firearms regulation regarding college campuses. All over the world violence occurs when we least expect it. As the human race evolves, so does the technology we use. We have acquired the ability to kill a man without being in his general vicinity. With just the slight movement of my finger I can end someone’s life. One small confrontation could lead to a terrible travesty. In the United States alone, we have seen many shootings in educational buildings from the students themselves. When you put guns in the hands of students, you are asking for death. People may say it adds protection to people wearing guns, but what about the people without them? I strongly believe that if this bill is allowed to continue we be seeing a large number of shooting in buildings of education, which is unacceptable. One small miscommunication between two armed students could start a firefight.

A major issue in the United States is gun control. Due to multiple mass shootings in schools and public areas, restrictions regarding guns have been implemented across the United States. Andrew Parks, a student at The University of Alabama, wrote an article against gun restrictions. His article, “The University should allow concealed carry,” supports the idea of college campuses like The University of Alabama, allowing students to conceal carry firearms. In an article written by Jennie Kushner, the opinions of students on the University of Alabama’s Police Department’s gun policy are presented. The safety of student body relies on the students’ feeling safe. That safety comes from less gun control laws and policies on campus. Each of the articles stated provides information against gun control in different ways.

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.

In 2007, 32 students and teachers die after being held at gunpoint on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University by a student, Seung Hui Cho, who attended the school later on dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In all 27 students and 5 faculty members died. I really think that guns shouldn't be allowed on college campuses at all because it will cause a distraction from the learning environment, would lead to an increased number of suicides by college students, a gun might go off by accident, most college students are too young to carry a concealed handgun license, and school shootings don't happen that often and college campuses are very safe so, therefore, there is no need to carry a concealed weapon on a campus.

Last but not least, the author also makes an abundant use of appeals to the reader’s Pathos, appealing to the reader in a way that reaches them in a personal and emotional way. The author begins and ends this article with this same appeal, to draw the reader in, as well as to open them up to the information that the rest of the article provides and leave the reader thinking about it. He begins the article by mentioning some of the more infamous college campus shootings, such as those that occurred at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, and then proceeds to make his case against concealed firearms on college campuses. This viewpoint is prominently displayed in the third section of the article, in which the author writes about how students who go on these shooting

Since those horrible days in 1966 and 2007 there have been at least 6 other major shootings at American College Campuses. Among those six, a custodian shot and killed 7 people while injuring 2 at the California State University on July 12, 1976. Also involved in a horrific shooting, Douglas Pennington was a parent of 2 students of Shepherd University. He killed 2 people before committing suicide. Some say this is reason enough to prohibit the use of guns all together, but there is still a voice that rings out heavily across the Nation- nearly 3 million voices, to be literal. That voice is the N.R.A. (Jost, 2007, 126)

Gun control is a major topic in today’s society and it is broken into many subcategories that all have different arguments and views. A few examples are The Second Amendment is not an unlimited right to own guns, more gun control laws would reduce gun deaths and more gun control leads to fewer suicides in the United States. The gun control category I am focusing on in this essay is, should teachers and students be able to carry firearms on a college campus. I chose this since I am currently attending college and this could have an effect directly on me or ASU. The idea of teachers and staff being able to carry firearms on a college campus has come up many times in the media recently due to the rise in mass shootings. Many states are now looking at this problem and voting on it. This topic is always heavily debated due to the many different sides and varying beliefs on gun control and safety. The NRA (National Rifle Association) has a heavy influence on the united states and who should be allowed gun and what legislation is passed. The gun control topic of firearms on a college campus has become politicalized and is commonly drawn into political debates and has become a political tool for winning elections. Some states have already voted and taken action on this new idea and have allowed staff to carry guns on campuses and in cars parked and locked in secure parking lots. Another major idea that is constantly brought up with campus carry and firearms on campuses

According to the NCSL, National Conference of State Legislatures “Over the last five years, campus safety legislation has been a hot issue across the country”. Authors like Jazz Silva are standing up for student’s rights that some State Legislatures might not care about. Not only are weapons dangerous but it is unsafe to students who may struggle with mental health issues. College campuses are safer than the communities that surround them. The University of Louisiana system states “93% of the violence against students occurs off campus.” Allowing guns on campus would lead to an escalation in violence, can lead to an increased number of suicides by college students, and the possibility that a weapon can go off by accident.

Due to the urgency of recent shoot out at college campuses, SCCC are formed to protect and make school campuses safer. In this article, the SCCC counter acts the five points that the SGFS proposed that guns did not make the campuses safer.

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

In the “Allowing Guns Won’t Make Campuses Safer” article, the president of Drexel University in Philadelphia John A. Fry, who happens to be the author of this article, made plenty valid points to support his point of view. He goes back into recent American history and provides incidents where guns have led to extreme violence. For example, last year a student killed six and injured thirteen near the University of California in Santa Barbara. Another incident was in 2013 when a twenty-three year old shot his father and brother before killing three others at Santa Monica College, and that is just to name a few. Mr. Fry said, “Only in America do we respond to shootings with the need for more guns. Arming college campuses will do little to reduce mass attacks, and will likely lead to more shooting deaths” revealing his stance on guns on campuses and in our country.

The right to bear arms is a liberty given to us in the United States written in the Second Amendment. However, that should not apply to college campuses across the nation. Giving anyone the accessibility to take a fire arm without any penalty could possibly make it easier to plot a scheme that would inflict harm to students. The vast majority would agree, it is difficult to talk about guns on campuses, since it associates with previous shootings that have taken placed in recent memory. Understandably, for many people to witness these tragedies have severely crippled them emotionally, physiologically, even physically. Even if the person carrying such a weapon with the true intention in defending, should not be accountable in defending themselves from outside influences. The law enforcement is well equipped to handle matters like these. We can never foresee or intervene a crime that will occur in the future, but we can prevent it. One way we can get closer

“Colleges and universities occupy a special place in American society. They are much more than a series of buildings and collection of individuals. Instead, they are dynamic living and learning environments where individuals with varying levels of maturity interact, often under stressful circumstances. While recognizing the right of responsible individuals to possess firearms under other circumstances, the unique characteristics of a university campus make the presence of firearms problematic. The shootings that have occurred in recent years at US colleges and universities have generated passionate debate about how best to prevent such violence and whether persons should be allowed to carry concealed guns on campuses. Experts believe there is no credible evidence that students or staff carrying guns would reduce crime. In fact, research has shown that the brains of most college students have not fully developed regarding impulse control and judgment” (Dickerson). Therefore, guns should not be allowed on college campuses because it would lead to an escalation in violent crime, distract from the learning environment, and lead to accidental discharge incidents.

Why should we put students in danger, with allowing guns on campuses?Gun control is the government controlling how many guns should a person have at home. Many people want gun control because without gun control there is more violence in the streets and there are many people dying because those who have guns just don’t know how to use them in a good way. For those who are against it they say that people should be able to decide whether to have a gun or not, they want to be able to defend themselves and their homes from criminals. Guns should not be allowed. I believe guns should not be allowed in college campuses because a student can just go on a killing spree because they might have a mental problem, some students don’t know how to use it appropriately, and it could increase the number of crimes or suicides.