Guns on College Campuses: Pending and Passed Legislation
Posted: February 26th, 2008
By: Zach Heller
Category: Opinion Corner, The News Beat

Is it me or has everyone in the world gone mad?  Okay, so that may be a little over-dramatic but there is one issue in the news right now that really shocks me.  I saw the headline, “Utah Students Hide Guns, Head to Class” on CNN.com and decided to investigate.  Apparently, Utah has passed legislation that allows students and teachers at public universities to carry concealed weapons on campus.  This, in the wake of the second major school shooting incident in a year.

At first, I thought to myself, “Wow, people from Utah are a little different”.  Then, after some further investigation, I saw that one other state (Colorado) has passed the same legislation, and it is pending legislation in about ten other states.  What is going on here?  Is it really a good idea to allow students to equip themselves with guns to prevent a shooting spree?

Before, if you saw a kid on campus with a gun, you know there is something wrong.  That kid needs to be stopped immediately before he harms anyone.  Now, we are trying to make it perfectly legal for everyone to carry a gun around.  Basically, if you are 21 and have a permit, fair game.  I would love to know what law makers are thinking, or were thinking, when they came up with this legislation.  Am I the only one who thinks a college campus should be gun-free?

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Comments
> No, you're not the only one, but that is not to say the concept you support is any less flawed. College campuses SHOULD be "gun-free" in the same way that America, and indeed the world SHOULD be gun free. The simple and unavoidable fact however, is that the world isn't, America isn't, and America's campuses aren't either. That unavoidable reality is the driving force behind the legislation. It is has also been the driving force behind "right to carry" laws that are now in effect in a majority of states. No rule, no matter how well intentioned, will do anything more than prohibit sane, law-abiding students and faculty from arming themselves for their own protection. The insane and the non-law-abiding, by definition, do not follow rules. Rules prohibiting guns on campus have the same impact as those prohibiting the arming of airline pilots: they merely paint a larger, juicier target, a group of people vulnerable because they are virtually guaranteed to be unable to defend themselves against someone with a gun and ill intentions. If the next copy-cat rage were to be maniacal students using cars to mow down pedestrians, would it make sense to advocate "car free campuses?" It is high time we stopped the habit of blaming objects and tools for human actions.
Comment By: Jonathan S. Kingston - February 28, 2008