Guns on Campus: Why Fighting Fire with Fire Won’t Work.
Tragedies involving mass shootings are on the rise. People turn on their TVs, look at their smartphones, or open newspapers and are bombarded with horrors like Orlando and Dallas. Perhaps the worst are the statistics reported on school shootings, which show vulnerable children’s lives, both the very young and young adults attending college, are at stake. Instinctively, the public wishes to take actions which will prevent such heinous events from happening. Instantly, the thought of arming students old enough to do so, becomes more than an emotional knee-jerk reaction, but a reasonable solution. But even in the atmosphere of such terror and grief, questions must surface; Is there actually …show more content…
By comparison, the criminal homicide rate in the United States was 5.7 per 100,000… (SFGS 634).” In other words, a person is far more likely to be killed off campus than on.(check for plagerism) The opposition group, Students For Concealed Carry states the use of this statistic by SFGS is to make “an astoundingly naïve leap in logic,” by equating the relative safety of college campuses with the scarcity of guns on these campuses (SFCC 643). Even if there is another explanation besides the lack of guns which makes campuses safe, the statistic still stands on its own merit; campuses are relatively safe, a fact which SFCC has no evidence to refute. There is simply no reason to believe that guns will make statistically safe places even safer. In fact, they may become far less …show more content…
In his essay, “There’s a Reason Why They Choose Schools”, Dr. Timothy Wheeler paints a picture of armed, “qualified” and “trained” “first responders” who will keep campuses safe (Wheeler 656). He gives the impression that anything less would be irresponsibly allowing a murderer free reign to run amok, picking off innocent students left and right. This is doubtful, considering the qualifications of students carrying concealed weapons are not up to par with highly trained first responders such as the police, as the training is most likely a “day class” (SFGS 638). What is more likely to occur are accidents, or worse; students allowed to carry handguns may become perpetrators of violence as
Tragedies involving mass shootings are on the rise. People turn on their TVs, look at their smartphones, or open newspapers and are bombarded with horrors like Orlando and Dallas. Perhaps the worst are the statistics reported on school shootings, which show vulnerable children’s lives, both the very young and young adults attending college, are at stake. Instinctively, the public wishes to take actions which will prevent such heinous events from happening. Instantly, the thought of arming students old enough to do so, becomes more than an emotional knee-jerk reaction, but a reasonable solution. But even in the atmosphere of such terror and grief, questions must surface; Is there actually …show more content…
By comparison, the criminal homicide rate in the United States was 5.7 per 100,000… (SFGS 634).” In other words, a person is far more likely to be killed off campus than on.(check for plagerism) The opposition group, Students For Concealed Carry states the use of this statistic by SFGS is to make “an astoundingly naïve leap in logic,” by equating the relative safety of college campuses with the scarcity of guns on these campuses (SFCC 643). Even if there is another explanation besides the lack of guns which makes campuses safe, the statistic still stands on its own merit; campuses are relatively safe, a fact which SFCC has no evidence to refute. There is simply no reason to believe that guns will make statistically safe places even safer. In fact, they may become far less …show more content…
In his essay, “There’s a Reason Why They Choose Schools”, Dr. Timothy Wheeler paints a picture of armed, “qualified” and “trained” “first responders” who will keep campuses safe (Wheeler 656). He gives the impression that anything less would be irresponsibly allowing a murderer free reign to run amok, picking off innocent students left and right. This is doubtful, considering the qualifications of students carrying concealed weapons are not up to par with highly trained first responders such as the police, as the training is most likely a “day class” (SFGS 638). What is more likely to occur are accidents, or worse; students allowed to carry handguns may become perpetrators of violence as