The Right to Bear Arms and College Campuses

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Gun control on campuses all across the United States of America has been a controversial and popular debate topic for me ever since I woke up one morning on April 20, 1999 and witnessed, what at that time was the deadliest campus shooting in our history, at that time. Obviously I am talking about the shooting that occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado where Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris attacked their school and opened fire on helpless students, brutally murdering 12 students, a teacher, and then killing themselves. I may have been young at the time of the shooting, but it definitely was my first interaction with deadly violence in a campus setting and opened my eyes to the harsh reality of how crazy our world can be at times. I am one that believes the strict gun control laws are tearing away at our constitutional right to bear arms. After all, no one can protect us, quite like ourselves. When it comes down to it I would rather have my own fate decided by myself than have to rely on law enforcement to get there in time.
As I mentioned above, The United States Constitution and the 2nd Amendment, the Right to Bear Arms is what is at the very heart of the politically charged debate on whether or not we should allow students and teachers to have guns on campus in order to defend themselves while on campus and attending classes to further their education. There are a variety of issues on this particular topic in the United States. The way society views guns, the Constitution itself, and perhaps most importantly, the ever evolving and frequently flip flopping of the legal codes and those politicians who influence these legal codes all come into play when talking about the issue of whether or not guns should be...

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...n campus. I feel that this proposal would ensure that campuses remain largely gun free zones, in that students cannot carry, but also help to make them even safer by allowing those who are in charge of the classroom to have the opportunity to step up and take charge if the time rises where a school shooting does in deed happen on their campus. Teachers and professors should have the right to protect their classroom and students. I may be wrong, but I feel this is the best possible policy.

Works Cited

National Conference of State Legislatures. (2013, 07 01).Guns on campus: Overview.
Retrieved from http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/guns-on-campus-overview.aspx

Baum, K., & Klaus, P. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics(2005). Violent victimization of college students, 1995-2002. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Washington D.C.

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