Why Guns Shouldn't Be In College

In this generation, shootings are just another ordinary event that happens every week or every month. More and more people are feeling unsafe everywhere they go because of how outrageous people act. Sometimes if people get frustrated or angry, they take out their aggression on other people and become violent. The government is soon allowing students to carry guns on campuses without having conceal and carry licenses. This puts students even more at risk of something dangerous happening over something small. The law should not take place within the next year because it will cause even more dilemmas in America than there already are today.

In 1999, the first school shooting happened at Texas University in Austin, Texas on August 1. Guns were not allowed on campus during this time, so students were not able to attempt to protect themselves. Police and other citizens began to shoot at the gunman. The first person that was shot was an eighteen-year-old women, Claire Wilson that had been pregnant. There were two men that risked their lives to save her. Luckily they got there in time to save her life, but they were not able to save the baby's life. There were sixteen people killed, and thirty-three injured at the scene of the shooting. Now, over fifty years after the incident, there is still an argument on whether or not students should be able to carry guns on campus without a conceal and carry license. Since the first shooting in Texas, there have been about two hundred seventy shootings since then. In the fall of 2007, Amanda

Collins was assaulted by a man that put a gun to her head, and proceeded to rape her. She was walking in the parking garage at her school, and felt that nobody was around to harm her, so she started to walk to her car alone. The man was waiting for her to get to her car, and attacked her. She said that the safety office was about ten feet away from her, but it was not open at the time. Collins was trained in self-defense, and she even had a conceal and carry license, but was not allowed to carry her gun on campus because they were not allowed. She thinks that if she were able to have her gun on her at the time, she would have been able to defend herself and the attack would have never happened. Another student named Colin Goddard, was attending class on a normal day, and there was a school shooting. He did not know what was going on until he got shot. He heard sounds coming out of the classroom and did not realize was what happening until he realized his leg had been hit by a bullet. He had been shot multiple times, and still to this day, has three bullets left inside of his body. Goddard believes that even if he were to have had a gun, he does not think that it would have helped the situation at all. He did not even know what had been going on until the shooter arrived in his classroom, firing at everyone in the room. Goddard believes that it is not a smart idea to allow guns on campus because he has been in a real life situation where if he would have been armed, it would not have mattered. He would not have had time to react and pull a gun out to defend himself from being shot. Both of the students have different views on the gun laws. Many people agree with both sides or just one. Kansas public universities have authority to ban guns on campus. That will change on July 1, 2017, when they’ll be required to open their institutions to concealed weapons. There are some pros to being able to have guns allowed on college campuses. If someone had the idea of coming to a college campus and shooting students, the gunman would more likely decide to not go to the school that allows guns, rather than a school that does not allow guns.

Also, if someone attempted to show up on a college campus and students were allowed to carry guns, they would be able to defend themselves. On the other hand, there are way more cons than pros with this new law that will be in tact the next year about guns. Students will be able to carry around a gun without actually having a license to do so. One big problem with this new law is that many classes have group discussions. If there was a discussion during a class and a student started to get angry, they could pull out a gun and attempt to harm the students around. So, what student would want to be involved in a class discussion if it could get heated and someone could end up getting hurt? Not very many. Another reason that guns on campuses are not a smart idea is because college students get involved in drinking. If there were students drinking on campus or in resident halls, someone that was able to carry a gun could make very stupid decisions if they were intoxicated.

Also, if a student got a bad grade on an assignment, they could go talk to the teacher about it, and if the teacher were to upset the student, the student could easily attempt to harm the teacher because of a small grade. So teachers will also be afraid of what the students in their classrooms are thinking of them because they do not want to say anything to hurt anyone’s feelings because it could result in a uproar. It is sad that instead of putting money aside to every college to make it somewhat safer for students, the government wants to let the students try to protect themselves by arming them with a gun. It is too expensive for every college campus in America to have metal detectors, and security guards to check people and bags to make sure that nobody could potentially harm someone with any sort of weapon. So the government just thinks giving college students the right to carry a weapon on them without having any background check or even a license to carry a gun is the way to go. Another con about this new law, is that there are already problems with the police officers today. With this law, the students could cause more school shootings on their own.

If students were to get in a fist fight like in the past, it could be even worse with guns playing a role now. It could start a school shooting just between the students. Officers would get involved, and it is just a dangerous situation for everyone. The officers risk their lives to try to stop the violence, when they could end up getting shot at because the students think that officers are the bad guys now. This law is going to cause more cons than pros when it becomes serious within the next year. Most people know that putting guns into college student’s hands is not a smart idea. Giving students the right to have a gun on them without having a license to do so is an extremely risky act. Many college students do not even have completely developed minds. College is the time for students to grow and learn but putting a gun in their possession, is going to turn this world upside down. This law that will allow students to carry guns on college campuses is going to be one of the worst laws in history ever created. It will not make everyone safer, it will tear everyone apart.