Concealed Weapons and Campus Safety

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.

“Shooting massacres” in school settings, a new phenomenon within the past 50 years, are extremely rare events. Over 23 years, 1990-2012, 215 fatal school shooting incidents resulted in 363 deaths, equivalent to 0.12% of national firearm homicides during that time period …… Among these, just three shooting rampages – Columbine High School, Virginia Tech University, and Sandy Hook Elementary School – accounted for 72 (53.3%) of these 135 deaths. The frequency of random/ rampage shooting incidents in schools has remained within the narrow range of 0 to 3 episodes per year.” (Shultz, et al., 2013, p. 84)

If college campuses legalize the right to obtain a concealed weapon there could a risk of escalation in violence on college campuses. Allowing college students to carry a concealed weapon on campus makes for many opportunities of potential misuse of the weapon. According to the Journal of American College Health, most college students don't have experience shooting or holding a gun, therefore, they could make a mistake and unintentionally harm somebody or even themselves. Granting college students access to guns will pose increased risks of incidents of self-injury, accidental shootings and even murders. The University of Louisiana system shows that evidence also indicates that the presence of concealed weapons on campus would increase the likelihood of

The mainstream media leads many to believe that mass shootings on college campuses are very common, and are in despite need of gun reform. This is actually false information, the truth is that campuses and other schools are among the safest places in America. According to recent studies, the actual homicide rates on campuses are one in one million, considerably less than the nationwide average of fifty-seven million. In addition, other crimes are still proven to be less likely to happen at colleges, rather than in common rural areas. And in most

The school shooting in Roseburg, Oregon was severe. On October 1st, 2015 Thursday 10:38 am at Umpqua Community College (UCC), the gunman went to the school and started shooting students. Many students were killed and injured. The gunman, Christopher Harper-Mercer, 26 years old, had an interest in guns, struggling with mental health issues, and had anger against religious people. This shooting was called, “One of the Deadly mass shootings this year”.

Allowing concealed weapons on campus has been around for several years now. Sides such as, Students for Concealed Carry, who advocate for the right to carry on campuses and the other opposing such thing. Former, Students for Concealed Carry Director, David Burnett wrote an article about the reasons as to why students should be able to carry on campuses. Burnett was the director for the group in 2011, he wanted to get the word out about this cause during his time. Burnett wrote several articles about the reasons to why students should be allowed to carry on campus. Also the websites states, “state-issued concealed handgun licenses should be allowed the same measure of personal protection on college campuses that current laws afford them virtually everywhere else.”(1) Burnett states this into his article because under the new law, only those who have a concealed handgun license would be able to carry. Those with licenses can freely carry in movie theaters, grocery stores, banks, shopping malls and even churches so why should a

On April 16th 2007 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a student with psychological problems began a two hour killing spree that left 33 dead (Reader). The massacre that occurred at this school is now the worst recorded incident in the history of the United States and eclipses the University of Texas massacre of 1966. In the wake of tragedies like these, students, teachers and administrators propose more measures to make us feel safe on campus. But why weren't these measures in place before? School administrators and police have a responsibility to protect their students and faculty on campus, and these instances clearly shown a lack of fulfilling that responsibility. And yet several campus' refuse to allow law-abiding and

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.

Since 1966, there have been 127 events in which four or more people were killed by a lone shooter. Since 2015, 52 of those 127 events have been school shootings; twenty-one being at colleges and universities, fifteen at high schools, three at middle schools, ten at elementary schools, two at preschools, and one on a school bus. On August 1, 2016, Texas Senate Bill 11, also known as Campus Carry, became a law allowing people with a concealed handgun license to carry concealed handguns in permitted areas on college campuses. Continuing to allow college students and faculty to carry concealed handguns on campuses is likely to make colleges, like Texas State University, overall better and safer.

It was sad that teenagers who went to college to finish their study and fulfill their dreams by earning a degree. They were killed by their college mate. Virginia Tech Massacre that occurred in 2007 in Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Seung Hui Cho was the one who killed thirty three students and injured twenty seven people. This massacre is known to be the deadliest mass school shooting in United States. He was known to be wrote poems about violence and hates rich people. He came to United States when he was four. He had some psychological issues too. He bought two guns and shot professors and students to death. After killing many students he shot himself on

The Virginia Tech shooting was also one of the worst historical events in history that made me see things differently. On April 16, 2007, a shooting was occurred that not only changed the lives of the students, but also changed the way I see life. The reason was because one student had a mental problem which lead him to killing and hurting a lot of students. Mourning the losses of teachers, friends, and students, Virginia Tech is now forever changed, says one veterinary school spokesperson (Schultz, par. 2). It saddens me that a person would do this just to be famous or to cause physical and mental pain on innocent people.

On April 16, 2007 a student, Seung Hui Cho, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg, went on a shooting rampage and opened fire on his fellow students and Virginia Tech community members. The shooting took place in the early hours of the morning when many students were preparing for classes. The first two shootings occurred at 7:15 am at West Ambler Johnston Hall. 21/2 hours later after Cho had changed his blood stained clothes, deleted his e-mails, removed the hard drive, mailed videos to NBC television; he again went on another shooting spree which killed 30 people. In total Cho killed 32 people and wounded 25 others before killing himself.

In reading the essay titled, “Guns Don’t Belong in the Hands of Administrators, Professors, or Students,” the author addresses the concern for safety on college campuses. The author Jesus M. Villahermosa Jr., who was a deputy sheriff for Pierce County Sheriff's Department for thirty-three years of dedicated service until he retired in 2014. Certifications include: being the first certified Master Defensive Tactics Instructor for law enforcement personnel in the state of Washington, serving as a Firearm's Instructor, and an Active Shooter Instructor. Villahermosa not only discusses important questions when considering the terms of firearms on campus, and in the hands of administration and faculty but offers his experience, while informing the reader, of the likeliness of more heightened danger due to inadequate training which could potentially lead to death and other repercussions for the person holding the firearm.

One of the worst mass shootings in the history of the United States took place on the day of April 16, 2007. This incident occurred on the campus of Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia. A total of 32 students and teachers were killed and 30 other people were severely wounded. Seung-Hui Cho was a senior at Virginia Tech University and the individual who was responsible for the killings. Seung-Hui Cho ended up taking his own life after he had committed the crimes. He had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The tragic events at Virginia Tech in April of 2007 and Northern Illinois University in February of 2008 have policymakers, campus officials and citizens looking for solutions to prevent future attacks (Dickerson). Violent shootings that have occurred on a few college campuses in recent years have provoked a debate over