Guns on Campus

Conceal and carry laws have been a controversial issue for years. Our second amendment rights give us the right to bear arms to form a militia. The second amendment does not necessarily state we can carry firearms in public. Although it is has been an issue to certain advocacy groups it has not caused any problems publicly. Citizens who acquire a conceal and carry license have to undergo a strict background check and have to pay heavily to get the license. An article by Mike Stuckey states that around six million people conceal firearms legally, however this number is fairly low considering America's population is around 300 million. (Stuckey) The article tells the events in which an attorney who was the target of an attempted robbery shot and killed the man robbing him. Law enforcement stated it as a justifiable homicide and Corley who was the shooter gave a voluntary statement. An American who has the right to conceal and carry is educated on the responsibilities he is held under.

There will always be advocates against conceal and carry, but recent school mass shootings have given light to another issue. People have arguing whether or not college students who have conceal and carry licenses should be allowed to carry on their college campus. In the past few years legislation has been passed in several states allowing students to carry firearms on campus. College students have created a non-partisan group called Concealed Campus advocating rights to carry on campus. Colorado's Supreme Court recently passed  a law allowing students to carry on campus and Kansas is debating the right to carry on campus as we speak.

Opposition on the matter explains that there is a time and place for everything, but guns do not have a place anywhere. People argue that allowing guns on campus would lead to more violent crime. This argument has not held any weight, because when you look at the facts every campus in both Utah and Colorado there has not been and increase in violent crime. Other people believe the rate of student suicides will increase. This argument does not even correlate to conceal and carry laws. Studies show that most suicides occur in home and seeing that most college students over twenty one (minimum age requirement to obtain a license) live off campus shows that this argument is irrelevant. (CampusCarry)

As American citizens we have been given the right to defend ourselves. The world is a harsh place and guns will always be a part of that equation. Concealing a firearm may only be a fraction of violent crimes committed. If one would look at the statistics they would see that there are many different factors causing violent crime. If a person wants to commit a violent crime we have to ask the question, why would they get a license to legally carry a firearm only to turn around and commit an illegal act.