College stressful enough without guns
By Shantell WhiteheadReporter, The Voice
Throughout the college years, students are dating, drinking and dealing with life’s problems on their own for the first time. These new experiences lead to temperamental teens in often volatile situations. Placing guns in the hands of 18-25-year-old young adults on college campuses will lead to more violence, not less.
In the wake of recent gun-related violence on college campuses including Northern Illinois University, many state legislatures and college officials are reevaluating the restriction on firearms at school. But arming students and faculty on the off-chance of a Virginia-Tech rerun is not rational. Giving students guns to prevent violence is like giving out donuts to prevent obesity.
Supporters of this legislation believe we are leaving colleges defenseless against potential attacks. However, while these laws are being proposed in an effort to protect students, research by the U.S. Bureau of Justice argues that firearms are 10 times more likely to be used in crime than defensively.
Now the issue is being brought right into our backyard, with Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson’s proposed Senate Bill 1214. The bill would allow students of higher-education institutions with concealed-weapon permits to carry guns on campus. According to azcentral.com, lobbyist Kendra Leiby of the Arizona Coalition of Domestic Violence, asserts that “legalizing guns on campuses invites perpetrators to commit crimes.”
Putting more guns on college campuses to prevent gun-related violence is counterintuitive to rational thinking.
Democratic Senator Ken Cheuvront of Phoenix recommends that “schools ... become more pro-active in limiting anyone from potentially bringing a firearm on campus.”
Allowing guns at school takes away a student’s basic right to feel safe from violence while on campus. I don’t know about you, but when I’m listening to a lecture in bio or participating in a heated debate in philosophy, I do not want to have to worry about whether or not the guy sitting next to me could pull out a weapon.
