Carrying Guns On Campus Essay

Licensed gun owners are 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for a violent offense than the general public. A hot topic of debate among college students today is wether or not they should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon on campus. Although some believe that having guns on campus would create an atmosphere of fear and paranoia amongst the students, the threat of a wild west type shootout are minimal at worst. Students and faculty with a conceal and carry license should be allowed to carry a weapon on campus because license holding gun owners are less likely to commit a serious crime involving a weapon, having a weapon and the training required to get a license could help a women defend herself from a much bigger and stronger attacker, and armed citizens can stand as a …show more content…
License holding gun owners are less likely to commit a serious crime involving a weapon than the general public. In his article “An analysis of concealed carry arrest,” William E. Sturdevant maintains that “license holders are 5.7 time less likely to be arrested for violent crimes and 13.5 times less likely to be arrested for nonviolent crimes than the general public”(7). In making this statement Sturdevant supports the right of people with conceal and carry licenses to carry their weapon on a college campus. The fact that licensed gun owners are less likely to commit crimes than the general public shows that having licensed people carrying guns on campuses won’t create a wild west type atmosphere with people resorting to gun fights to solve arguments that may arise on campus. One point that Nina Butts makes in her article “Texans against gun violence” is “even gun control agencies agree is a non-problem because there hasn't been wild west shootouts in the streets”. The fact that gun control advocates are agreeing that conceal and carry is not a problem shows that just because people have decided they want to be