Guns on Campus

Articles titling 16 April 2007 At least 33 killed in VA. Tech Massacre,

and 14 February 2008 5 shot dead, including gunman at northern Illinois
University (Birnbaum, Robert) are getting more and more common. A scary
statistic states, 161 School Shootings In America Since 2013
(everytownresearch). Because of this scary statistic, two main groups have
formed, MoreGuns and BanGuns.(Bimbaum, Robert) These two parties
have opposite views about what should be done relating to these horrific
school shootings. But regardless of these two different views, the fact is that
that school shootings are happening every day. Many people would say that
more guns equal more victims. But, by allowing responsible students and
faculty to carry concealed weapons, mass shootings will result in less
homicide victims, and active shooting times will be decreased substantially.
As you take a look at these two different parties of MoreGuns and
BanGuns, you can also separate these two groups into 4 smaller
groups/viewpoints. These four viewpoints are that of the general American
population, college students, parents, teachers, and school faculty. Those
different viewpoints consist of; 1) Unlimited carry for students and teachers,
2)Schools given authority to dictate gun carry rules on campus, 3)Allowance
of concealed carry given to teachers only, 4) Banning students and teachers
from carrying on college campuses.
Unlimited carry for students and teachers:

As much as you try to ban guns, limit magazine sizes, and create Gun
Free Zones, there will always be access to guns. However if our Federal
Government could guarantee our safety or our kids safety at school, maybe
more guns would not be the best option. If it were possible to have multiple
police officers at each school and strict security measures, maybe we would
be safe. But the truth is that, the average police response time to a school
shooting is 18 minutes, while the average school shootings lasts just 12.5
minutes.(schoolguard) This means that, by the time police arrive on scene,
the shells are cold, victims are bleeding out, and the shooter is done pulling
the trigger.
So if students or people want to do harm and shoot up a classroom or
school, no matter what, they can find access to a gun. By allowing students
and teachers to carry concealed firearms/weapons on college campuses,
active shooting times will shorten, homicide victims will decrease and
overall, college campuses will become in a sense, safer. Right now, the
only three states in America that allow unlimited concealed carry on campus
by law are Utah, Idaho and Colorado.
Schools given authority to dictate gun carry rules on campus:
Now in America, 6 states including Texas, Kansas, Arkansas,
Mississippi, Wisconsin, and Oregon, allow concealed weapon carry on
campus by law, but schools limit location/who carries. 20 other states leave
the dictation of gun laws up to schools to decide all gun and weapon policies.

That means in 26 states, more than 50% of the United States, leave some or
all of weapon policies up to the schools themselves.
By leaving weapon policies up to schools by campus, will this do
anything to help? Will limiting carry outside schoolhouse building do much?
Will a shooter who wants to cause harm, stop when he sees a sign saying,
Weapon Carry Confined to Parking Lot Only? This truth lies with the same
fact, that even though having strict gun carry rules, a person who wants to
cause harm and become an active shooter, can get their hands on a gun no
matter what.

Allowance of concealed carry given to teachers only:

Some say that by allowing teachers, but not students, to carry
concealed weapons on campus is a better alternative. But, are we really
going to add that extra strain of responsibility on our teachers? They already
have the responsibility of teaching their students, are we going to make
them now responsible for the lives and safety of their students as well?
By only allowing teachers to carry, this can cause problems in
classrooms to. Like I said earlier, a person no matter how strict gun carry
rules, they will always be able to get their hands on a weapon. If students
find out their teachers carry a concealed weapon in class, or keep a gun in a
classroom, what would happen? With students not being permitted to carry,
and leaving it up to teachers to carry, many problems would arise.

Banning students and teachers from carrying on college campuses:

Maybe we could just ban all guns in general and put up Gun Free
Zone signs everywhere. However, is a shooter going to follow that or not?
Imagine a bank for example. A bank is a place that is definitely a Gun Free
Zone. However, just because its a Gun Free Zone, does that stop bank
robbers from wanting to and succeeding in robbing banks while using
weapons? Once again, our Federal Government did a better job of ensuring
our safety at public school and colleges more, more guns maybe not the best
alternative. But until that day, banning guns is only going to leave the
responsible people defenseless, and under mercy to the hands of shooters
who do not abide to Gun Free Zone laws.
Of course this may make you think that school shootings are a very
common thing and something we all will have to face one day in our life. The
truth is that despite their daily occurrence in The United States, it is still very
rare to become a victim of an active shooter on campus, or even to be in an
active shooting zone on campus.
Despite the scarceness and the small minority of people that mass
shootings affect, something has to be done about it. Look at our government.
Our National Government spends billions of dollars every year on defense.
According to the U.S. State Department, the number of U.S. citizens killed
overseas as a result of incidents of terrorism from 2001 to 2013 was 350. In
addition, we compiled all terrorism incidents inside the U.S. and found that
between 2001 and 2013, there were 3,030 people killed in domestic acts of

terrorism. This brings the total to 3,380.(CNN) This includes the 2000 and so
odd people that lost there lives on September 11, 2001, in the Twin Towers,
the Pentagon, plane crashes, etc. On the contrary, From 2001 to 2013,
406,496 people died by firearms on U.S. soil. (CNN)A few hundred compared
to nearly half a million, is a stunning fact. But still the question remains, what
is there to do about it? Will banning guns and banning people from carrying
guns (even on college campuses) really make us safer?
Contrary to what we might think, most mass shooters in the U.S.
obtained their weapon or weapons legally. So, shouldnt we be asking
ourselves why it is so easy for these shooters to obtain their weapons so
easily even when they are legally doing it according to National and Federal
laws? Maybe the question should be, what can we do to make it harder for
these moron mass shooters to receive their murder weapons? Is banning
guns going to work? Probably not. We cant really enforce it. If we could,
would it even work? But, if laws were made that made it harder for these
shooters to get their guns, would this impact mass shootings? I think
absolutely. But, even with tighter laws and regulations pertaining to gun
control, these shooters that walk into schools with a purpose to harm and kill
themselves and/or other students or teachers, are still going to have an
access to a weapon.
Gun control is a good thing. We dont want morons and deranged
lunatics having access to weapons. Tightening gun purchase laws are a good
thing. If you are a responsible person and you want to buy a gun, you can.

Background checks are good. The Second Amendment to the Constitution is

also beneficial, giving us the right to bear arms. Having policeman in every
school would be great too, but until the time that our Federal Government
can guarantee our safety, stop deranged shooters from getting their hands
on guns, and decrease police response times to shootings, allowing students
and teachers to carry guns will help decrease homicide victims in mass
shootings.

Resources Cited:
. Guns on Campus Laws for Public College and Universities. Armed
Campuses. 2013. Web. November 21, 2015. http://www.armedcampuses.org
Guns On Campus: Overview. National Conference of State Legislature.
October 5, 2015. Web. November 21, 2015.
http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/guns-on-campus-overview.aspx
Anonymous/Webstie. 160 School Shooting In America Since 2013.
EVERYTOWN. October 3, 2015. Web. November 21, 2015.
http://everytownresearch.org/school-shootings/
Bimbaum, Robert. Ready, Fire, Aim The College Campus Gun Fight.
Change. September 10, 2013. Web. November 21, 2015.
http://www.changemag.org/Archives/Back%20Issues/2013/SeptemberOctober%202013/gun-fight-full.html

Ehrenfreund Max. 11 Essential Facts About Guns and Mass Shootings in the
United States. The Washington Post. June 18, 2015 Web. November 21,
2015. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/06/18/11essential-facts-about-guns-and-mass-shootings-in-the-united-states/
Jones, Julia. American deaths in terrorism vs. gun violence in one graph.
October 2, 2015 http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/02/us/oregon-shootingterrorism-gun-violence/