A student’s protection is the most important thing on any college campus.
The recent rise of sexual assaults and the ever present threats of school shootings on campuses has put that sense of safety is in peril. One way to the stop the rise of these heinous acts would be to allow students and faculty to carry a concealed weapon.
According to a Pentagon report, assaults in the nation’s military academies rose 64 percent from 2009 to 2010. In addition, an investigative report conducted by the NPR Investigative Unit found that there was an increase of 49 percent of ‘forcible rapes’ on college campuses between 2008 to 2012.
Along with the rise of crimes on campus, the recent threats and lockdowns on the Pierce College campus can make students feel unsafe. A student must rely on the response time and manpower of the school’s Sheriff’s Department for safety, and sometimes that isn’t enough.
For students to feel truly secure and protected, they should be allowed to carry a gun on campus.
When the word protection is used most people think of police officers. A police officer’s first weapon is his or her mind, but when that officer needs to implement force, he or she draws a weapon.
For a police officer, his or her main defense against a gunman is a gun. Shouldn’t that be the same for students?
Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming are all currently looking to pass a bill that would allow students to carry a firearm on campus.
An argument can be made that guns hurt more people than protect, but if that is the case, then why is it legal for citizens to carry a concealed weapon in public?
As of March, 2015, five states allow citizens to carry a concealed weapon in public. That public place may be a park or a library littered with dozens of children. Wouldn’t it be more dangerous to carry a concealed weapon in an area full of children as opposed to a college campus full of adults?
All 50 states allow citizens to carry a concealed weapon if they meet state requirements. Most students are over the age of eighteen and have citizenship, so why should their Second Amendment rights be taken away when they are at school?
This is a controversial topic to say the least, but it cannot be denied that having a concealed weapon on a campus could save someone’s life.
For Pierce College to be considered a safe asylum, students should be allowed to carry a firearm.
