Gun Control Debate

Angel Culver

Professor Cedillos

INRW 0311

November 15, 2015

        Gun control has been a huge debate for many years. Some people are crazy about guns and others are terrified of guns. It is in the Constitution that we have the right to bear arms though, no matter if anyone thinks differently. Though those rights are limited. After reading Burnett’s article, “Students Should Have the Right to Carry Guns on College Campuses”, I have to agree with him because everyone has the right to defend themselves if they are responsible enough to do so, the data shows it works as a deterrent on a college campuses, and if you are unaware of your surroundings you should be able to react.

        The Constitution states that we have the right to own a gun and use it for protection. So why should we only have that right at home? Not all crimes happen in our homes; when shootings take place they are mostly in well populated areas like malls and schools. These highly populated areas are “gun-free zones” so they make people think that they are safe, when clearly they are not. Burnett tells us that “Gun-free zones only serve to protect killers by ensuring they will face no resistance”. This gives the killers the upper hand. They see these zones as a place where no one is going to interfere with their plan or harm them. Think about all that money Americans pay in taxes that go to schooling, “The fact that taxpayer-funded colleges can force Right-to-Carry permit holders to surrender their Second Amendment rights upon crossing the invisible (and unsecured) borders of their campuses should anger every sensible American”. We all should have the rights to carry concealed guns to any place because every place, even “gun-free zones” can be dangerous and deadly.

        The studies over many years show that concealed carry works as a deterrent on a college campus. Meaning that concealed carry serves as a decoy to the killers. The killers see this as it being harder to go through with their plan and even think they may be harmed; so the guns scare them away. Studies show that “Every public university in Utah has allowed concealed handguns on campus since 2006, with no misfires, accidental shootings or incidents of any kind reported. Likewise, Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia has allowed concealed carry on campus for years with zero complaints”. Whereas, at other colleges the shootings “all occurred under the same banner: “gun-free zones”. These studies prove that concealed handguns make the campuses potentially safer and less to no crime will happen.

        In 2010 the Department of Education “found that Virginia Tech failed to take prompt action in warning the campus community of the possibility of danger after the bodies of the two students were found”. None of the students knew about the killer running free in their school. Everyone was completely unaware. One survivor later stated that “the choice of life or death rested solely in the hands of a mentally deranged killer”. Since these students had no clue what was going on and had no time to react or get away, they were shot. With a handgun someone could have slowed down the killer or killed him and protected themselves and their classmates, but no one could because of the “gun-free zone”. So the killer can walk in and shoot whomever and how many he wants because no one can shoot back. No one can protect themselves from the killer. It takes the cops roughly three minutes to get to the shooter in an incident like this and those three minutes are deadly. Especially when all you can do is huddle in a group and hope no one will be killed.