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The Importance Of Guns On Campus

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On September 17, 2006, a gunman shot and wounded five Duquesne University basketball players after a school dance; this is the first shooting at this university in its 128 years. On April 16, 2007, a gunman killed at least 33 people in the Virginia Tech Massacre. On February 14, 2008, a man shot and killed five students in a Northern Illinois University lecture hall (Brady Campaign, 2012). Due to the dispute that has surrounded guns and violence on campuses in the recent years, the question of whether or not individuals on campuses should carry firearms is a controversial debate. Two major perspectives delineate this matter; one side feels as though allowing guns on campus is a basic right. The other side feels as though banning guns on campus would reduce the amount of violence (AASCU Government Relations, 2017). Universities should not permit guns on college campuses.
Arguments For and Against
According to Birnbaum (2013), those in favor of more guns side with the premise that self-defense is a right that every person has, regardless if they find themselves on a college campus. This perspective takes the focus off mass shootings and instead focuses on the basic rights of the individual. According to Gilbert (2017), the ability to carry a concealed weapon on campus would not really affect the outcome of a mass shooting. “I think the focus on mass shootings distracts us from the best arguments for campus carry, which should be primarily about the individual right

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