Wednesday, March 9, 2011
I just knew that we would one day be allowed to bring guns on campus!
Although America has witnessed the atrocity of gun violence on campus in the 1999 Columbine High School shooing and in the more recent 2007 Virginia-Tech school shooting, lawmakers in a dozen states including Arizona and Texas are moving toward making the possession of guns by teachers and students on campus legal. Strangely enough, lawmakers believe that allowing students and teachers to carry guns on campus would act as a deterrent for any people with the intent of attacking a university campus. There doesn't seem to be much support for any such law by people in respective states, and I don't believe that there will be. Although one may argue that the ability to carry a firearm is a Second Amendment right, I'm not quite sure as to how this would play out on school campuses as to how students feel or interact with their peers. If anything I believe that upset or unstable students might just resolve their disputes by drawing out a firearm and releasing a spray of bullets on campus. I know that I would feel a lot more comfortable if teachers on campus had guns but not if students had the same liberty. What do you guys think? Would you feel more comfortable if you were able to wield a weapon on campus?
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5 comments:
The idea of being able to bring guns on campus seems that it would cause more trouble than it would prevent these school attacks. While we do have a second amendment right that gives us the right to bear arms, a institution of knowledge should be the limit if not past it for where guns should be openly allowed. The lawmakers seem to have the idea that if faculty and students carry firearms the school will be safer, however those past attacks were made by people who brought guns onto campus with the intent to harm. If everyone was allowed to bring a gun on campus, it will make it harder for school police to notice someone who intends to use the firearm.
Students and teachers must be allowed to bring guns to campus. It should be noted that if someone were to wish to cause harm in a school with firearms, they would do so regardless of the rules. Also, I believe that gun licences are still required to purchase guns, so disturbed mental histories could be caught. The main focus here should be on improving gun laws while at the same time increasing rights for students.
Furthermore, to add to Daniel's excellent points, it must be noted that just because policy is instituted that allows guns to be carried on college campuses doesn't mean that the campus will suddenly be populated overwhelmingly with firearms. It's not like everyone and their little brother are going to buy a gun and carry it around with them at school. The number of people who actually do carry firearms in response to these proposed laws would be far and few. Thus, I believe the potential benefits of these laws outweigh the risks. As Timothy has already noted, "lawmakers believe that allowing students and teachers to carry guns on campus would act as a deterrent for any people with the intent of attacking a university campus." I wholeheartedly agree.
And Timothy, you would feel more comfortable if teachers on campus had guns? What's to say they're not unstable as well? Columbine and Virginia-Tech were outliers, like it or not. It is just as likely for a teacher to lose it and "spray bullets on campus" too, as you so blatantly put it.
@ Ryan: Are you insinuating that simply because massacres such as Columbine and Virginia-Tech are rare therefore the lives lost in those brutal murders should be entirely disregarded when considering the effects of bringing guns onto campus? You don't have to to answer that question, just tell that to the friends and relatives of the 15 murder victims of the Columbine shootings, of the 18 murder victims of the University of Texas shootings, of the 32 murder victims in the Virginia-Tech shootings, of the 10 murdered in the Red Lake HS shootings, not to mention the other hundreds of people murdered in schools worldwide from guns being present on campus. I would further point out that the statement that " I believe the potential benefits of these laws outweigh the risks" is not only inane and out of gross ignorance about the true nature surrounding said "potential benefits" of guns on campus, but I am a firm believer in Proverbs 27:22.
If anything, I think this would make me feel more uncomfortable. It is highly unlikely that a school shooting of any kind will occur anywhere. It is even more unlikely that a student or teacher would find it necessary to carry a gun at a school setting and find use for it. Guns are not only unnecessary on campus and but they will also only cause more anxiety/fear than relief.
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