ALLOWING COLLEGE STUDENTS, PROFESSORS AND OTHER COLLEGE

EMPLOYEES TO CARRY CONCEALED WEAPONS ON CAMPUS.

In recent years, violent attacks in colleges have been on the increase. This new phenomenon

has called for a demand and revision of concealed weapon law in campuses, thus calling for

permission for concealed weapons in campuses for the purposes of protection. However, as this

paper argues, professors and other college employees should not carry concealed weapons on

campus. That is before concealed weapons can be carried into campus there should be tags

specifying the personality traits, psycho state and characteristics of the person carrying the gun.

Otherwise in the absence of that any permission is a declaration that campuses are warzones..

Firstly, students, professors and other college employees should not be allowed to carry

concealed weapons on campus. According to (Bishop14) allowing concealed carry is a perception

of safety. If students and staff carry weapons they are able to defend themselves from potential

criminal elements. This argument has a serious flaws. Firstly it assumes that colleges are

harbingers of criminal elements which carrying concealed weapons is a remedy. However on the

contrary concealed weapons simply increases the criminal by multiplying the presence of weapons

in college. Worse still, the argument ignores the fact in this instance everyone carrying a concealed

weapon without a proper screening becomes a threat to themselves or others around him/her.

Secondly, students, professors and other college employees should not be allowed to carry

concealed weapons on campus. According to (Emily Reimal 3) carrying concealed weapons on

campus creates an aggressive learning environment. For in the absence of personal psychic state

screening everyone is a potential perpetrator of violence. Also, carrying of concealed weapons on

campus may cause apprehension as owners may be irresponsible and mishandle their weapons,

especially guns (Emily Reimal7). Some students do not have legal ownership or license to a gun
nor know how to fire one, thus accidents are likely to happen. For instance, a gun may misfire and

cause harm or death to other students and staff on college campus, thus should be prohibited. There

is a likelihood among students to play around with weapons, thus, this irresponsibility cannot be

allowed to happen on college campus as it poses danger others.

However, there has been cases of intruders coming from outside campuses pounding on

innocent unarmed students, professors and college employees. This scenario perhaps in sense calls

for the permission for carrying concealed guns. The assumption is if perpetrators are aware of the

fact that his or her possible victims are armed then this could be deterrent enough and prohibit him

or her from carrying out the crime. Thus the argument here is carrying concealed weapons has a

deterrent effect upon a potential attacker.

However, above all, it is still impossible to hold on to the view that concealed weapons

should be permitted in campuses for the simple reason that “the presence of guns on campus creates

an environment hostile to teaching, research, and learning and thus “chills” academic freedom and

free speech” Which is a constitutional requirement. Rather it might be useful if colleges employ

other security measures like dangerous weapons screening measures so that the environment

becomes free and not potential war zones.

Conclusively in the absence of proper research and personality traits screening allowing

carrying of concealed weapons in campuses is just but multiplying the dangers posed by weapons

in campuses. Everyone is a potential danger and the process itself smacks of arming the criminal

elements in campuses. The arguments provided in favour of gun carrying culture have serious

flaws for it to be convincing.

Works Cited

Bishop, Amanda S. Shootings,Srain and safety on a college campus: An analysis of perceptions

of safety and concealed carry. East Tennessee, May 2019.
Emily Reimal, Sino Esthappan, Paige, S. Thompson and Jahnavi Jagannath. Guns on College
Campuses. Washington, DC: Urban Institute, 2019.