Gun control is an effort to end violent crimes by strengthening laws on the ownership of firearms. According to our Second Amendment, people have the right to “keep and bear arms.” But, the Supreme Court has acknowledged exceptions to the Second Amendment freedoms, and also the fact that no right is absolute.
Americans have argued for a long time about laws that would allow professors or students to carry firearms on college campuses. Do gun-control laws on U.S. college campuses reduce violence, or they take weapons from honest citizens while leaving them in the hands of criminals? According to Villahermosa, “allowing guns on campuses will create problems, not solve them.” (“Guns Don’t belong in the Hand of Administrators, Professors, or Students” para. 1) I totally agree with Villahermosa’s point of view, and I believe that guns bring violence. Overall, gun related crimes on college campuses are a major problem in the United States, today.
Other experts disagree with Villahermosa’s point of view. For example, in an article written by Timothy Wheeler entitled “There’s A Reason They Choose Schools,” the author clearly demonstrates the “success of armed first responder.” ( ”There’s A Reason They Choose Schools” para. 5) In Wheeler’s opinion, schools and colleges are targets for mass shootings because of their gun-free zone policy. Overall, this is what makes colleges vulnerable to mass shootings.
Based on my research, this report evaluates if the potential risk for injuries and death resulted from the latest mass shootings on U.S. College campuses should increase public interest, and if new legislative bills in favor of arming professors or students should be created.
This report covers topics such: what we know about violence...
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...s on human brain.
We must ensure our students and faculty safety by keeping colleges free of any firearm.
Works Cited
Dickerson, Darby. "Students Should Not Be Allowed to Carry Guns on College Campuses." Opposing Viewpoints in Context, 2012. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Villahermosa, Jesus M. "Gun Don't Belong in the Hands of Administrators, Professors or Students.” Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 18 Apr. 2008. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Wheeler, Timothy. "There's a Reason They Choose Schools.” National Review Online. National Review, Inc., 17 Oct. 2007. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Nugent, Ted. "Spare the Rod, Destroy America." Eagle Publishing, Inc., 8 Oct. 2009. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
C.C. Branas, T.S.Richmond, D.J.Wiebe.(2009) Investigating the Link Between Gun Possesion and Gun Assault. American Journal of Public Health 99:11, 2034-2040
First of all, it is important to understand what gun control is as a whole. "The term 'gun control ' refers to any government policy limiting the ownership and use of firearms. Gun control policies can restrict the types of weapons and accessories that private individuals may legally possess or own" ("Guns", Culture ¶2). These policies have restrictions such as age, past
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.
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
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.
Guns should be banned from all college campuses nationwide. Many students, teachers, and college presidents strongly oppose hidden, loaded guns on campuses because it will lead to increased violence, accidental shootings, and the non-carrying public would feel unsafe around the carrying public. If all elementary to high schools have a strict ban on guns for their campuses, it seems logical to extend the ban up to higher education. Now that it is more common for students in high school to take dual classes on a college campus, extending would ensure safety of the minors. Guns have a purpose at other arenas, but on a campus that is intended for learning and education it would be best to keep
College campuses are more dangerous than ever because of the past decade; guns have not only been manufactured in excess, but availability and ease of accessibility. According to James Cool (2008), a supporter of guns on campus, reasoned why the increase of weapons occurred recently; “Our nation was founded … during the same time that modern firearms were invented and became readily available due to the Industr...
The second amendment to the US Constitution shows that it is unconstitutional to have complete and total gun control. The second amendment states that “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” This means that it is the right of an American citizen, abiding by the constitution, has the right to bear arms. Currently, there are over three hundred and seven billion people residing as American citizens. Within the homes of these Americans, forty five percent have a registered gun in their household. As a diverse nation, there are many reasons why there are guns located within a household. Sixty percent stated the gun is used for protection against int...
The Second Amendment guarantees that an individual’s right to possess and bear arms will not be infringed upon, yet college campuses have denied their students’ right to carry a weapon for years. As of 2014, 22 states do not allow students to carry guns on campus and 22 leave the policy of guns on campus to the schools. The remaining 6 allow students to carry weapons, but not necessarily into school buildings. Only in Utah is a student’s right to concealed carry protected by state law. While the government, state or federal, may not be able to control a private institutions right to ban guns, on public school grounds, students should be allowed to legally carry weapons, as they are on almost any other public grounds. Not only is the right protected by the Second Amendment, allowing concealed carry on campuses would contribute to lower crime rates, rather than lead to more crime.
“A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The right of all Americans to bear arms is a right the Founding Fathers held to equal importance as the Constitution itself. Gun control laws directly violate this right and therefore should not even be under consideration. Even if that issue is overlooked, gun control advocates state that in order to reduce firearm related violence, gun control laws must be implemented to remove the violence caused by firearms. Although this may seem reasonable, the consequences of such laws are ironically counterproductive; they exacerbate the problem instead of fixing it. Besides the fact that the American Constitution guarantees its citizens the right to bear arms, the idea of restricting gun ownership in order to reduce firearm-related violence would ultimately fail given the previous experiments of gun control in England and in numerous states.
Well gun control, otherwise known as the firearms set of laws refers to the laws and/or policies that regulate the manufacture of sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms. The Second Amendment of the Constitution is the heart of this wonderful nation we live in. This amendment states that the citizens of the United States have the right to possess and bear arm. Gun control has been a hard-hitting issue for the last couple of years. Guns are one of the most powerful weapons. They can cause destruction, harm, or even death. However, guns can also defend, protect, threat, and kill.
Gun control can be defined as “the use of law to limit people's access to handguns, shotguns, rifles, and other firearms” ("Gun Control"). In other words, the government initiates a set of new regulations that gives the government the right to strip and monitor the firearms owned by the gun owners. The new demand for legislators to acknowledge and reform the gun laws present today because statistics show how guns has contribution to killings in America and the horrific tragedies. Every year in the U.S., an average of 100,000 people are shot, according to GunPolicy. Out of that 100,000 people shot, some of those victims consist of children, bystanders, fathers and mothers. The lethality of guns in 2011 firearms was responsible for 32,163 deaths in America (Alpers). Firearms have been used recklessly and claimed thousands of lives of Americans, increasing the death rate. If gun control was in effect and passed by legislators the deaths in America from firearms would not be so large. What also contributes to these facts is the ability to obtain guns for violent acts of crime which why the government need to suppressed and monitored firearms.
The United States government is attempting to reduce violent crime by controlling the amount of guns on the market, who is allowed to purchase a gun, and what type of gun a person is allowed to purchase. The only people affected by gun control laws are the law-abiding citizens that should be allowed to purchase firearms without the government’s approval. Gun control is a term covering everything from laws prohibiting ownership of a particular type of firearm to ordering gun locks to be included with every firearm sold. Gun control dictates the manufacture, distribution, sale, acquisition, storage, transportation, carrying, and use of firearms in the United States and is regulated by federal, state, and local laws and regulations. It is the United States government’s response to criminal activity.
Gun control only takes guns away from law-abiding people and it does nothing to stop criminals from buying illegal guns, who are unlikely to obey the law and register their guns at all. Most of the time the term gun control is improperly used. The definition of gun control is the government regulation of possession and use of firearms by private citizens. The government is using it as way to take our right to bear arms away from us.
College campuses have had cases of shootings and a hostage situation and part of it is due to concealed and carry. Colleges have the choice to conceal and carry. due to conceal and carry there have been massive school shootings and kids and peers have been shot. Also, 23 schools allow faculty to conceal and carry. If faculty can conceal and carry what stops people who claim they are a visitor or volunteer and shooting up the school. On top
Central in the arguments against gun control is its ability to restrict any citizen of the United States the right to own guns which is protected under the constitution. Specifically, due recognition is made to its connection to the 2nd Amendment wherein it seeks to protect the individual liberties of people. This facet also applies to gun ownership regardless of the original objective and intention. “The second amendment from the Bill of Rights grants private citizens the right to bear arms. Thus, people who stand firmly against gun control insist that no legislation, technically, should have the right to take away a citizen’s guns without first repealing the amendment in question” (Groberman 1). A good approach to consider in highlighting this part comes from depriving the citizen of his basic right on the basis of specific presumption that it would be used for violence or crim...