2008 Woodie Awards
Guns should still not be allowed on campus
STAFF EDITORIAL
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
IN THE WAKE of recent horrific and highly publicized occurrences of gun violence on school campuses across the United States, the question of whether or not guns should be allowed on college campuses is on many people's mind.
The most horrific of these recent occurrences is the Virginia Tech shootings, where a lone gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people before killing himself. Other recent examples of gun violence on college campuses include the murder of University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford, the shooting of two Delaware State University students (not to be confused with the two Delaware State students who were killed in Newark; this shooting occurred on-campus, and these students survived) and the shooting of five University of Duquesne basketball players.
Those who want to allow guns on campus try to sensationalize these episodes in order to show that guns are needed on campus. Their line of argument usually goes something as follows: "Armed students or employees would have a greater chance of restraining or stopping an attacker than would non-armed students. In the case of Virginia Tech alone, the availability of guns could have saved dozens of lives. Not only can guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens save lives in situations like these; they may even make these situations less likely."
Anybody can sensationalize a small handful of salient tragic occurrences, such as mass shootings, to make his/her point, but the day-in-and-day-out reality of the matter is what really matters. And the fact of the matter is widespread availability of guns will increase tragedies, not decrease them.
If many people have quick access to guns, even those that would not normally be suspect to using gun violence, may resort to it in a fit of anger. On any given day in the United States, murders under circumstances similar to this occur. A fit of passion plus quick access to a gun makes it less likely for cooler heads to prevail and more likely that someone will end up seriously injured or dead.
For every one mass shooting that might be stopped, there will be more than likely dozens of other single shootings that will occur if guns are allowed on campus.
The most horrific of these recent occurrences is the Virginia Tech shootings, where a lone gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people before killing himself. Other recent examples of gun violence on college campuses include the murder of University of Memphis football player Taylor Bradford, the shooting of two Delaware State University students (not to be confused with the two Delaware State students who were killed in Newark; this shooting occurred on-campus, and these students survived) and the shooting of five University of Duquesne basketball players.
Those who want to allow guns on campus try to sensationalize these episodes in order to show that guns are needed on campus. Their line of argument usually goes something as follows: "Armed students or employees would have a greater chance of restraining or stopping an attacker than would non-armed students. In the case of Virginia Tech alone, the availability of guns could have saved dozens of lives. Not only can guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens save lives in situations like these; they may even make these situations less likely."
Anybody can sensationalize a small handful of salient tragic occurrences, such as mass shootings, to make his/her point, but the day-in-and-day-out reality of the matter is what really matters. And the fact of the matter is widespread availability of guns will increase tragedies, not decrease them.
If many people have quick access to guns, even those that would not normally be suspect to using gun violence, may resort to it in a fit of anger. On any given day in the United States, murders under circumstances similar to this occur. A fit of passion plus quick access to a gun makes it less likely for cooler heads to prevail and more likely that someone will end up seriously injured or dead.
For every one mass shooting that might be stopped, there will be more than likely dozens of other single shootings that will occur if guns are allowed on campus.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
Hank
Hank
posted 10/24/07 @ 10:21 PM CST
How many guns come to the campus daily? Probably more than you think. So, these guns that come to school are brought illegally.
I don't carry a gun and could care less if guns are allowed on campus. (Continued…)
Andrew
posted 11/01/07 @ 1:26 PM CST
This article on the issue of gun control is like every other you read. The author always has his or her own opinion about what should be done to stop gun violence. (Continued…)
Carl in Chicago
posted 11/06/07 @ 8:12 AM CST
Prohibitions on firearms guarantee only one thing: only those willing to break the law will be carrying firearms.
And that is exactly what we should avoid. (Continued…)
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