Guns On Campus
Crimes on campus have been occurring lately in the U.S. which can lead to serious damage to a person’s life. Admittedly, people whom are not trustworthy, carrying guns on campus, can become a harmful and dangerous situation for other students. Campus police worries about parking and speeding tickets more than caring about students carrying weapons around. Guns on campus is causing threats to our professors and students safety because it is easily accessible, lack of security and unstable people having no control over their anger.
In the article “Guns on campus? Expect tragedy” (Amitai Etzioni ,2011) the author reports about the increasing crimes that have been happening recently by professors and students at the university campuses. On average “more than 700 Americans died each year from gun accidents between 1999 and 2007” (Amitai Etzioni, 2011). Some of those who favor guns say, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people” (Amitai Etzioni, 2011) But those nations which have more control over accessing guns have much lower levels of killing than those countries in which guns are freely available. “Among the 23 countries, 80% of all firearm deaths happened in the U.S. Some say even if we took away all guns, people would still kill each other” (Amitai Etzioni, 2011); however; no one can go to a random campus and kill dozen of people by using knife. “Guns should be less accessible, not more” (Amitai Etzioni, 2011). The author uses excellent supporting details to convince people not to carry guns on campuses; however; Stable trusted students and professors should carry guns around campus with license and they would be more of undercover security to save university properties.
The author uses logic in the fifth paragraph based on true stories when he says “ it was a student at Virginia Tech in 2007 who shot and killed 32 people, and in 2008, a former student killed five people and wounded 17 when he opened fire in a crowded lecture hall at Northern Illinois University” (Amitai Etzioni, 2011) I think it is clear that it is reasoning because he gave us logical examples based on true stories that have happened recently on university campuses. Again, he uses logic by giving statistics in the twelfth paragraph when he says “one study examined violence in 23 high-income countries and found that firearm homicide rate was nearly 20 times higher in the U.S than in the other countries” (Amitai Etzioni, 2011) and he also mentioned that among the 23 countries, 80% of all firearm deaths happened in the U.S, which means both of the statistics are considered logical. In addition, the author’s angle of vision is that he wants us to see how strongly he’s against guns on university campuses. On the other hand, he shows the negative aspect about guns on campuses by mentioning the tragic stories that caused killing and wounding innocent students. The author does not want us to have guns and shows us that they should be prohibited on university campuses. Most of the article is logical based on true stories and statistics that show the serious consequences of having firearms on campuses. However, the author wants the article to be easily understood. Going through the article it is obvious to notice how simple and more formal it is, which different levels and ages of people would get the main point of the article on the first time they read it.
Although one might agree that stable people whom can be trusted could carry guns with them on university campuses, others might disagree with unstable people being allowed to be armed on campuses. Once unstable people experience something that causes anger, they may lose their self-control and start shooting people. If there were trusted people with guns, they could be protecting innocent people from others who favor to vent their anger in the form of shooting people. The article mentioned the unexpected story of Seung –Hui Cho who has killed 32 people on Monday on the campus of Virginia Tech. “The killings occurred in two separate attacks on the campus in Blacksburg, Va. The first took place around 7:15 a.m., when two people were shot and killed at a dormitory. More than two and a half hours later, 31 others, including the gunman, were shot and killed across campus in a classroom building, where some of the doors had been chained. Victims were found in different locations around the building, if there were stable people with guns, Seung-Hui Cho might not have killed 32 victims and injured others, he could’ve been taken-down when he started shooting people” (Crowley, 2007). Finally, stable people could carry guns on the university campuses to defend themselves. Many people might believe that since guns are freely available in the US, and every citizen can easily reach them as long as they are a certain age, there will be no way that crime can be deterred unless guns are controlled. Consequently, giving firearms to only trusted people and making them less accessible for those who are incapable to have them would definitely deter crimes in the U.S where gun violence is increasing day after day of its weak federal gun laws. However, crimes will not be deterred unless guns are controlled in the U.S.
Despite the increase in crimes that happen often on university campuses, one might agree that stable students and professors should carry guns on campuses to possibly prevent a tragedy like others that have occurred in the past from happening again.. Others might disagree that licensed stable people should be allowed to have guns on college campuses to protect others and themselves from People with mental disorders that might threaten students and professors. It is necessarily to have an eye on women on campuses because they are often the easy targets for those who vent their anger by shooting. Many criminal incidents occur against women; In the article “The Reality of Crime On Campus” (Todd S. Purdum, 1988) the author reports “a man on a university campus walks up to a woman he has never met and bites her breast in a collegiate fad known as sharking. Four university football players in California Gang-raped a woman. A student rapes and strangles a 19-year-old college freshman in her Pennsylvania dormitory room. Another student murders two others in a Michigan dormitory with a sawed-off shotgun” (Todd S. Purdum, 1988). That is the reason why I think stable students and professors should be allowed to carry guns on university campuses.
In the article “Why state should allow guns on campus” (Michele Fiore, 2013) she reports a tragic incident of “Amanda, a 22-year-old, law-abiding adult, had a concealed weapon permit, but per state law, she did not have her gun on campus that night. Amanda did everything she could to be safe. She walked with friends to the parking garage, checked around her car and knew her surroundings, but her assailant attacked her from behind. She was held at gunpoint, forced to the ground and violently raped between two cars. In those few minutes that must have felt like hours, Amanda feared for her life, and even being in such close proximity to the police, an officer never came past” (Michele Fiore, 2013)
More importantly, Stable people carrying guns on campuses may mean the difference between life and death. The campus police are not fully aware of the danger that is surrounding students and professors on campus; therefore, they should have the right to take responsibility for their own safety and defend themselves when they have to.
To sum up, stable people should carry guns on university campuses so they can protect themselves and others from those who express their anger by harming innocent people. We should keep an eye on easy targets such as women and work as a team to protect our campuses. We could be more alert for suspicious people walking around campus and Communicate more with the police to keep our campuses a safe environment that allows us to get an excellent education instead of getting shot. One of the preferences that criminals like is an unarmed victim, being armed might not help all the time but being armless will never help. If we can train some trusted people on how to use guns and carry them legally, then they can have the opportunity to protect others from getting wounded by people with mental illnesses that might shoot someone. Finally, giving firearms to trusted people and making them less accessible for those whom are incapable to have them would definitely deter crimes in the U.S.
Works cited
Amitai. “Guns on Campus? Expect Tragedy.” CNN. 08 Mar. 2011. Web. <http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-08/opinion/etzioni.guns.in.school_1_guns-people-professors/2?_s=PM:OPINION>.
Crowley, Stephen. “Virginia Tech Shooting Leaves 33 Dead.” The New York Times. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/us/16cnd-shooting.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>.
“Why State Should Allow Guns On campus.” LasVegasSun.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/feb/24/why-state-should-allow-guns-campus/>.
N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/10/education/the-reality-of-crime-on-campus.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm>.
Benjamin Daniel. (2011). Contesting the Future of Nuclear Power. New york: A Critical Global Assessment of Atomic Energy.
Clark, Laura. (2003). Energy. New York: Macmillan publishers.
