Campus Carry Debate

Gun carry policies base their origins back to the 19th century, when the United States just finished with the Civil War and blacks initially obtained their lawful freedom. During that time, although Africans were officially emancipated, they were kept under subjugation by racist laws, such as the Black Codes and groups like the Ku Klux Klan. Similarly, in 1871, Texas and other southern states banned the carrying of guns in order to control blacks from gaining power over the whites and to prevent any remaining Confederate sympathizers from gaining any influence. Through this law, blacks were unable to shoot back at the whites that were tormenting them, and was a big shift from the amendment which guaranteed everyone the right to “keep and bear …show more content…
Individuals must be over 21 years of age, pass multiple screenings, gun training, and background tests in order to be eligible. While this bill is geared to provide more freedom for firearm carriers, it created a lot of controversy amongst the Texas public. Supporters vouch for this bill as it supports the second amendment right to bear arms, and offers student protection in case of a shooting. While the open carry law, which was passed a few days after the campus carry law, allows the carrying of weapons in public areas, people who support campus carry state there is no difference between a public area and a university as there are around the same number of people present. Additionally, campus shooters statistically are people who have unlicensed guns, and as stated previously only licensed firearms are allowed to be carried on campus. Therefore, the law would not necessarily cause more shootings to occur as shooters do not follow the law anyway. On the other hand, critics argue that the firearms would strongly affect school life through curriculum changes away from controversial topics to subdue anger and possible shooting outbreaks, and that large financial sums would be required in order to fund additional campus security, gun storage units, and enforcement programs to protect student body safety. The funding would have to be taken out of research programs and school projects, which would decrease educational value and prospects for students. While private universities are allowed to opt out of the bill, which the majority did, the public universities are unable to, adding to the dissent against the legislation for underrepresentation. In my opinion, I side with the group against campus carry due to the importance of education and the mission statement of a university. For many schools,