In the words of spoken word artist Fatima Tall, she describes her experience as an African-American, presenting images that contrast with the stereotypical barriers that people of African-American descent go through, especially in the inner city. Homicide rates in predominantly black neighborhoods have increased over the years and many believe the accessibility to guns is the reason why. In front of bidding white light, her frame the only thing being visible, she points two fingers at the audience; “Bang I graduated high school!” “Bang I’m going to college!” “Bang I'm spittin hot shit on the stage.” In the wake of several mass shootings on college campuses throughout the years, states have debated whether or not to allow students to carry …show more content…
The state of Texas has allowed their students to carry guns. We should be allowed to carry guns too. I personally don’t own a gun but if a student wants to carry their gun around campus that is fine with me,” UI Senior Anthonie Perla said. Earlier in the year, two states, Georgia and Arkansas allowed their students to carry weapons on campus. According to the National Conference of State Legislators website more and more states across the nation have introduced the possibility to allow their students to carry guns on college campuses. In the state of Iowa, this past February, the state of Iowa proposed the SF 256 Bill. According to the original written bill it prevented public universities and the state Board of Regents “from adopting or enforcing any policy or rule that prohibits a person with a valid permit to carry weapons from carrying, transporting, or possessing a dangerous weapon in the buildings or on the grounds of such a college or university.” The Bill has yet to pass the House. Several of UI Student Government members have been publically against the bill. “Personally I am not a fan of the SF 256 Bill. A school is no place for guns. The majority of us in student government are against the bill. We have done everything in our power to fight it and we shall continue to fight against it,” UISG Senator Nate Robinson
In “Stop Worrying About Guns in the Classroom. They’re Already here.” the author, Erik Gilbert, argues in favor of the law allowing the concealed carry of firearms in college campuses. Gilbert claims that it’s futile to be “worried by the prospect of having guns in [the] classroom” because he believes that even before the bill was passed, some students and faculty were already carrying firearms to campus (Gilbert). Furthermore, he insinuates that despite the presence of firearms, there were no incidents of student or faculty causing harm. To support his argument, the author provides incidents which have occurred over the last decade at his campus, such as accidental discharge of guns in dorms, firearms in student’s vehicles, and one faculty member who was discovered to be in possession of a gun in an on-campus facility. Considering these incidents and previous knowledge of “prevailing regional attitudes towards guns”, the author assumes that significant numbers of students, and possibly faculty, bring guns on campus regularly (Gilbert). As for those who are afraid due to the new law, he declares to them that firearm permit-holders are not dangerous by comparing the rate of their crimes to that of police officers. He also reasons that permit holders need to be at least 21 to qualify—claiming that the more mature students qualify—and have background checks performed.
The campus carry law is something I would never agree with, because I feel at the age of twenty-one we still act like children at times and, haven’t learned how to fully take on responsibility, so being able for some students to have guns on them, makes me fear for my life a lot more now than I had before.
Why would a student feel the need to carry a concealed weapon on campus? After all they’re headed to a “school” not a war zone. Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin are the only states that allow concealed weapons on campus. Arizona and other states let schools decide the policy on weapons. Many states prohibited concealed weapons on campus which is the right choice. Most colleges who allow their students to carry concealed weapons increase the chances of violence on campus. College students must be unable to carry concealed weapons on
On the essay, David, Skorton and Glenn Altschuler also point out how uneasy police officers feel at the idea of having students with guns on campus, because in the case of a tragedy happening there is no distinction between the innocent students is and the delinquent. A “former provost of Idaho State University” stated her concern about the insecurities towards this new law insisting that “When you’re responding to a situation like that, and someone’s in plain clothes with a gun, who’s the bad guy? Who are you going to take out to save the lives of…other students you are trying to protect?”
Supporting Point Why should college campuses be any different? They contain the country’s future presidents, senators and judges. They are also one of the most vulnerable places because most colleges don’t allow firearms on campus. The most important factor is that many students don’t pay attention to their surroundings so they are put in dangerous situations and they should be able to defend themselves to a certain extent.
Secondly, some people believe guns should not be allowed on campus because they may go off by accident. True, a gun may go off by accident, but according to, Students for Concealed Carry, out of 150 college campuses that allow concealed carry, there have been only three accidental discharges (Common). Two of them were by staff and one by a student. All three of the accidental discharges resulted in non-life-threatening discharges in which no one was injured (Common). All three incidents could have been prevented through proper training and practice, such as wearing a
Taking privileges away from the majority of mentally stable, healthy, hard working Americans just because a percentage of alcoholics, drug addicts, gang members, and mentally ill individuals are to blame for the school shootings, murders and suicides, would just be insane. So, why is the government trying to implement more strict gun laws for the people that don't do these heinous crimes. The debate on if the government should take the guns away from all the citizens in order to stop these crimes would not stop those who are committing the crimes in the first place. Then, the question would be, how would we know who really has the guns and where they are?
Of all school shootings only 47 percent of them are on college campuses. The other 53 percent are in elementary through high school grade campuses. These numbers can be drastically cut back by allowing concealed and open carry on college campuses. Students should be allowed to open carry on campus because it increases the protection of both themselves and the public.
Concealed weapons in college campus’s have been a big issue since the mass shootings in Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois Universities. Allowing for guns to be allowed in college campus’s would be a bad thing to do since it would create additional risks for students, even if weapons were allowed it wouldn’t deter the shooter, and it would detract from a healthy learning environment. So far there is only five states , Colorado, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin, that allow “concealed carry” at school campus.
College is seen as the beginning of young adult life, but campus crime can prevent the continuation of that life.Yet, campuses still prohibit students from carrying essential self defense weapons. This is most likely due to their ignorance of the benefits involved with allowing campus carry. Campus carry improves the overall environment of a college and promotes safety. Students should be allowed to carry guns on campus due to the current lack of protection offered through the university and an individual’s lawful right, despite the belief that it would cause an escalation in violent crime.
There's a problem in America. Children, defenseless are being shot one by one. They go to their school and the schools are a gun free zone. The shooters take advantage of it and take the children's lives. Teachers should be able to carry a handgun to protect their children. This is very important, to all teachers and students for their safety. Shooters wouldn't come in the school knowing that the teacher had a gun. Students would feel way safer. There would be a lot of safety that would go into this.there are a lot of facts that can help us make the decision.
As many people will have seen and heard, America yet again has seen another mass shooting, causing disruption and uproar about gun laws. Should gun laws be put in place? Will it actually change anything?
Concealed weapons on college campuses have been a debatable issue for a long time now. “Statistically, colleges and universities are relatively safe environments for students, faculty, and administrators”, but will concealed carry affect this (Kirszner and Mandell, 626)?Supporters argue that being able to carry a concealed weapon lowers the percentage of shooting or accidents and that it is simply constitutional to have the right to bear arms. On the other hand, non-supporters believe that this will affect the way of learning in school, and raise anxiety. While it is true that having a concealed weapon can make the person holding it feel safe, we should not allow it because it may bring more negative rather than positive things into the college campuses.
Due to the recent disruption of violent crimes on campus, many citizens that are pro-gun activist have suggested that both the students and teachers should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on school campuses. Those who are with guns allowed on school campuses claim that their rights have been violated for the reason that many college campuses refuse to allow weapons of any kind on their property. The Constitution of The United States of America already grants citizens the right to carry guns with them. It is not appropriate for guns to be in a vulnerable area such as a college campus or any University. There are already too many guns available to the public or easy to get any kind of gun, and allowing them on
“Since 2013, there have been over 200 school shootings in America, an average of nearly one a week”(Everytown Research). How safe is our family members at school? Allowing teachers and staff to carry guns could lower that number. Some people may disagree with it, saying that it would be teaching students violence. School shootings would be a thing of the past if staff were armed.