While thinking about my upcoming college visit next weekend, I found an article about college campuses and guns. When I first saw the title of the article, I was a little startled; I don't usually think of those two things in the same sentence. As I read on, I was even more surprised to see that colleges are considering allowing students to carry guns on campus for self protection.
Certain colleges have been exploring the idea of allowing guns on campus as a solution to rape and other sexual assaults. The article argues that guns won't help against these crimes at all, really, because most assaults happen in social situations. I think I agree with this statement. I don't think that any student would bring their handheld gun to a party just in case they're in a bad situation--having a gun could get really bad, really fast. In my opinion, the gun is only effective if you have it physically on you at all times; you can't just leave your gun in your coat at the door. I don't think this would be a solution to sexual assault at all, even though it may intimidate sexual predators.
Carrying a gun on a college campus is banned in 41 states, however some have been pushing to change this law. There are currently eight states that allow concealed weapons on campus. I wonder why these specific states (Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin) allow guns on campuses, while the majority of states don't allow it. In addition to possibly preventing sexual assault, supporters believe that it may prevent mass shootings on college campuses as well. By prevent, I mean that carrying a gun may help teachers and students to defend themselves in case of attack. Lawmakers have been discussing this bill in 10 states this year. I understand why college campuses feel like they need to ensure the safety and protection of both their students and staff, but I don't think they should use guns to solve the problem of guns. I think that colleges should first think about the kind of security they have at their school, then discuss different, less harmful and potentially very dangerous ways to help their students. For example, maybe colleges could create a mandatory self defense class for all freshman entering the school. They could also train teachers of what to do in case of danger and attack, if the school was worried about another possible school shooting. I think in order to solve the problem, we need to step away from the guns.
Do we need to fight fire with fire?
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI like how you posed the following question: "I wonder why these specific states (Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin) allow guns on campuses, while the majority of states don't allow it?"
I think this is clear evidence that your thinking has become more critical than accepting of why things look they way they do.
I would encourage you to quote form your anchoring text and analyze that to make this an even stronger post.