There comes a time when you have to open your eyes. Where you have to drop the stubbornness and start thinking critically. Cause and effect. If this happens, how many people are affected by the result? Are we putting anyone in danger? Are we solving any problems, or just adding onto them? It’s not a question of liberal or conservative natures. It’s safety. My state has chosen to pass a law that allows full-time employees to carry guns on campus. To put it simply, I am afraid.
Putting guns in a place where they have only caused death and suffering seems counter-productive, doesn’t it? Just in case you needed it, here is a list of the 142 school shootings that have occurred since 2012, and this year hasn’t even been added to the list. To date, there have been 182 shootings at a place of education.
Despite all the tragedies that have occurred, for some reason, supporters want less regulation on guns. How does that make any sense? More people carrying guns means less control over our safety and our lives.
Would you carry a firearm in a church? No, because it is a place of worship, not a shooting range. The same goes for college campuses. It’s a place of higher education. College is a stressful place for both students and professors. Why would you argue safety in a place where nobody is reliable and everybody is volatile?
Supporters of the bill argue that not just “any crazy person” can carry guns on campus, no, you’ll need a permit. As if the permit is a permanent note of sanity. As if the permit declares that the holder will forever make the right decisions and can be completely trusted at all times. As if the permit decides that the holder will put the lives of others over themselves. I digress. Permits are just pieces of paper.
I’ve read countless of supporters asking the same question, which is their only defense for their actions: If we continue to go on like this without guns on campus and another school shooting happens, what are you going to say to the families to the victim? That it was your fault that surrounding faculty could not save them?
To this, I say security. Increase security on all campuses. My school has a good campus police system. It has been reported that they can provide a physical response to a threat in one to three minutes.
Though police have not gotten a good rep lately, it is their job to protect and that is why they have a gun on their person.
What if this law stays as it is and there is another school shooting? What will YOU, the supporters say to the families of the victim? You had your guns and still nothing happened. What will you say when a faculty member loses any semblance of control and a life is lost for no reason? It sounds dramatic, but we're talking about lives at stake. You can never be too dramatic.
Leave the shooting accidents to the police. Beef up the security and leave it at that. Use all the tax money required to put this law into action towards more police on duty. Don't put civilians into the problematic mix.
Here's a map of all the areas where school shootings are most prevalent. The map is overwhelming, but letting faculty carry guns on campus won't help stop the number from increasing. A professor’s job is teacher, not a policeman.
Senator Mike Bell is one of the people in power that is responsible for passing this law. But I’d like to ask, Senator Bell, in what world does this seem safe to you? You are willing to put the lives of millions of young students at risk in order to exercise your constitutional right to bare arms in a place where it does not belong. When your five children go off to college, will you trust the professors, staff or administrators to keep your kids safe? Those professors, staff, and administrators could have a bad day. Maybe they were at their limit with stress. Can you trust them to not reach down to their belts and draw their weapon so they could let off some steam?
Not to say that the faculty aren’t trustworthy or good people, but as my old AP US History teacher used to say, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Doing a little research, It seems like the decision was based on the short-ranged thinking of getting some kind of revenge on the opposing political party and NOT what the senator saw as the safest route to save lives.
The Senator stated, "I think some of these people need to take their medication." (As if it was completely logical to allow more guns.) "Maybe this will give UT a chance to hire some conservative teachers if we have a mass exodus of some of these liberals who responded to this.”
This seems like he was more focused on getting back at “liberals” rather than actually using his position of power properly, doesn’t it? This seems like inappropriate behavior for a law-passing adult to be displaying. Senator, it’s not just liberals, it’s conservatives, it’s independents, it’s libertarians, it’s greens, it’s everyone. It’s not political, it’s logical.
As a college student entering my second year, I’ve experienced first hand how stressful it gets, but also I’ve seen and been with many different kinds of professors and faculty.
Take it from a regular college kid just trying to make it to medical school. I don’t want to die because somebody wanted to carry a lethal piece of metal in a place with thousands of people because it’s their “constitutional right”.
If you’d like to take action, here is the official Keep Guns Off Campus Petition. Let's start focusing on safety rather than bringing more hysteria into the mix.
