Fighting Fire With Fire

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Past experiences show that when an armed assailant attempts to attack anyone, they gravitate towards a person that is unarmed and unable to defend themselves, therefore, areas that do not allow concealed carry are unsafe and will undoubtedly attract someone who wants to harm the defenseless. In light of recent school shootings, a portion of society, including state legislators have been discussing whether nor not to authorize students and faculty to carry their concealed weapons on college campuses. Most school shootings take place in gun-free zones. While sections of the community say that allowing students to carry guns would only worsen the situation, a considerable amount of citizens believe that giving students and faculty the ability to legally carry a concealed weapon on a campus would decrease campus violence phenomenally. Among this group of people is Ken Stanton, a man who was attending Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University amid the shooting who stated, "It is not a force field, but it just means that if something bad does happen, we can fight back, at Virginia Tech, no one had a chance.” Ken Stanton was friends with a man who got killed during this shooting, and subsequently started looking for college campuses that would allow open or concealed carry so he could feel more secure on campus. Students and personnel would not only feel safer, but if necessary, they could protect their fellow citizens if they were granted permission to carry their firearms. Just giving a teacher the right to carry a gun would increase the safety of students everywhere. If there had been a concealed carry permit holder present during the incident at Sandy Hook, nowhere near as many lives would have been lost. A man attending a... ... middle of paper ... ...ome have mace or taser, others even keep baseball bats in their cars. There are so many ways to protect one’s self from violence, but they are not all failsafe. Forbidding guns on campus is an unjust and senseless way to prevent campus violence due to the fact that only law abiding citizens abide by the law. Bibliography Burnett, David. “Decriminalize Self-Defense.” USA TODAY. 01 Mar. 2011: A.4. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 06. Feb 2014. “Guns on Campus: Overview.” Guns on Campus: Overview. National Conference of State Legislators, Jan. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2014 Jones, Ashby. “Colorado Justices Back Handguns on Campus.” Wall Street Journal Online. 06 Mar. 2012: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 24 Feb. 2014 Palazzolo, Joe. “Push to Let College Students Carry Guns Picks Up Steam.” Wall Street Journal. 22 Sep. 2012: p. A.3. SIRS Issues Researched.Web. 24 Feb. 2014

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