Bloodsaw1

Katira Bloodsaw
Advanced Composition
Mrs.Foster
4/11/17

Weapons and the use of them has always been a controversial topic but when
thinking about whether they are necessary and where they are necessary, the lines
can become very shady. HB 280 would allow weapons carry license holders to carry
and have handguns in certain buildings on Georgias public college and university
campus.There are many pros and cons to allowing guns on campus. This is a difficult
situation to judge.

Campus safety is a main concern when thinking about whether Bill HB 280 should be
passed. The main concern is how safe the students would be on the campus if a dangerous
situation occurred. Since the bill has become of relevance, many have called to question if the
passing of the bill would be helpful to the situation or create more of a problem. State
representative Karla Drenner said this After the passage of House Bill 280 by the House of
Representatives, I am greatly concerned about the safety of my two college-aged children and
their friends, professors and administrators, as well as the safety of Georgia's University students
statewide Drenner also said Guns will not make my children or any college student feel any
safer on college campuses Even though Representative Denner was spoken from a personal
view, a lot of people feel this way. In order to protect the children, they should learn how to fight
and other ways to protect themselves and not always resort to a gun or some short of weapon.
However, there are many people who think that to insure the protect of the students and the
faculty, guns/ weapons are a must have. State Representative Jeff Jones is one of these people.
Statistics from the FBI show that 14.3 deaths occur on averages in mass shootings when
everyone in the group is without a weapon but 2.3 deaths occur on average in mass shootings
where at least one person in the victim group is armed. The number of deaths in mass shooting
dropped almost 5% when some was armed and able to fight back. Another point brought up by
Representative Jones is state and cities that have tough guns laws in place tend to have higher
deaths cause by gun violence and vise versa. Basically what representative Jones is saying is that
guns would be helping the issues and not hurting it.
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Another thing to consider when think about the bill is public safety. Not only is the safety
of college students called to question but the overall safety of the public is in question as well. In
the debate of whether guns/ weapons should be allowed on college campuses, the safety of the
public has to be a concern as well. If students have the opportunity then that threatens the
public. According to ICLEA public safety is threatened by student gun owners. Also ICLEA
found that two-thirds of gun owners engage in binge drinking. That means that when people
college students engage in dangerous habits like drinking then they are more at risk to make a
mistake that could be detrimental to the public. There is no way to control what happens when
someone is intoxicated so the best way to make sure that people are safe is to ban students from
having guns on the college campuses.

In conclusion, the HB 280 would be a bill that allows a lot of changes need to be made to
what is allowed on the college campuses. There are a lot of options about whether or not the bill
should be passed and it important to consider these options and outcomes before making a
decision.
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Work Cited

Rep. Drenner Denounces House Passage of Campus Carry Legislation. Georgia House of
Representatives RSS. Georgia House of Representatives, 13 Mar.2017.Web.

Dickerson, Darby. Students Should Not Be Allowed to Carry Guns on College Campuses.
Guns and Crime, edited by Christine Watkins, Greenhaven Press, 2012. At Issue. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010015253. Accessed 17 Mar. 2017.
Originally published as White Paper- Guns on Campus, NaBita.org, 17 Feb. 2011

Jones, Jeff. Why I voted Yes to campus Carry Georgia House of Representatives RSS.
Georgia House of Representatives, 3 Mar. 2017. Web. 17 Mar. 2017