2008 Woodie Awards
Gun rights should not be expanded
Mike Hayes
Opinion | 4/16/08
It has been one year since the community of Virginia Tech was tragically wounded by the shootings that took the lives of 32 people. In the wake of the worst school shooting in the history of the United States, one would expect that we as a country would learn from this event. I believe, however, that certain groups have used this tragedy and other school shootings to promote an increase in people's gun rights. Pro-gun right groups want campuses around the United States to grant students and professors the right to carry a gun around campus for safety reasons. I vehemently disagree with any policy that expands the rights of guns, especially on campus grounds, and I believe we can find better ways of preventing school shootings.
After every tragic school shooting, pro-gun lobbying groups have always opposed the call for increasing gun control by suggesting that students deserve the right to arm themselves on campus. For example, I was reading an article about how one student has organized a campus group that is lobbying their college to allow firearms on campus. They believe that if students and professors had the option to carry a firearm they would be able to protect themselves from a shooter. At first glance, this idea makes sense. Students would most likely be helpless to defend themselves in the event of a shooting. I think, however, there are a lot of "what ifs" that go along with allowing guns on campuses.
One of the reasons schools do not currently allow guns on campus is that schools do not want their campus to turn into a modern day version of The Wild West. An increase of guns on campus could increase the rate of accidental deaths cause by accidental fire. A student should not have to worry about getting shot because one of their fellow classmates decided to play around with their gun. Instead of assuaging the fear of guns, we would be just adding to the fear by increasing the number of guns on campus.
How can we trust students to protect other students during a shooting? We normally assign police officers the right to protect and use deadly force in these situations. Police officers are required to go through a great deal of training in order to have that right. A policy that allows students to have guns would give the responsibility of an extensively trained police officer to any student with a gun. The safety of the overall campus would not be improved as much as pro-gun advocates believe it would.
After every tragic school shooting, pro-gun lobbying groups have always opposed the call for increasing gun control by suggesting that students deserve the right to arm themselves on campus. For example, I was reading an article about how one student has organized a campus group that is lobbying their college to allow firearms on campus. They believe that if students and professors had the option to carry a firearm they would be able to protect themselves from a shooter. At first glance, this idea makes sense. Students would most likely be helpless to defend themselves in the event of a shooting. I think, however, there are a lot of "what ifs" that go along with allowing guns on campuses.
One of the reasons schools do not currently allow guns on campus is that schools do not want their campus to turn into a modern day version of The Wild West. An increase of guns on campus could increase the rate of accidental deaths cause by accidental fire. A student should not have to worry about getting shot because one of their fellow classmates decided to play around with their gun. Instead of assuaging the fear of guns, we would be just adding to the fear by increasing the number of guns on campus.
How can we trust students to protect other students during a shooting? We normally assign police officers the right to protect and use deadly force in these situations. Police officers are required to go through a great deal of training in order to have that right. A policy that allows students to have guns would give the responsibility of an extensively trained police officer to any student with a gun. The safety of the overall campus would not be improved as much as pro-gun advocates believe it would.
Be the first to comment on this story