Legislators in the state of Arkansas are considering passing a bill that would allow faculty and staff members on the college and university campuses to carry guns. Those gun-totting employees must have passed a concealed weapons class and have an up-to-date concealed weapons permit.
Is this a good idea?
Nearby Texas is considering a law that would allow faculty, staff and students to carry weapons on the college and university campuses.
Is this a good idea for Arkansas?
Do you want your professor or department secretary packing heat?
I strongly believe that is a dangerous idea. Though it has its pro’s, I feel that the cons outweigh them tremendously. Having a gun off campus for safety reasons is totally different from having one on campus just because. I feel that in most cases, people aren’t on campus long enough to need a weapon for protection. What if there was an underlying conflict between two people, and just because they have permission to have the weapon, they could let out fire on that person out of anger. Does this law go for on-campus parties where conflicts occur more often?
ReplyDeleteHouse Bill 1479 is being done with the best of intentions. The government should do all that it can to keep safe. But I don’t believe this is the right course of action.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that giving teachers or even students the ability to carry hidden weapons is something that could bite lawmakers in the future
Police officers already have enough to worry about when it comes to keeping a campus safe; they don’t need more possible shooters in classrooms. Teachers aren’t hired to keep campus’s safe; that’s a job that should stay in the hands of campus officers.
As a college student, there are numerous fears that I have. The fear of missing a test or failing a class is always on my mind. However, there is one fear that always sits in the back of my mind: the fear of a campus shooting.
ReplyDeleteHouse Bill 1479 is offering faculty and staff members the chance to bring a weapon into the classroom.
It’s strange to think that your professor’s job might not only be to teach you but protect you as well. It is a strange thought but I think it is one that could grow on me.
The Arkansas House Committee on education adopted bill 1479 Tuesday that will allow for trained and licensed facility and staff members to carry guns on campus. Interim chief of university police Randy Martin has expressed his concerns of accidental discharges and the worry that should a real problem arise the facility or staff member would use unnecessary force to subdue the situation.
ReplyDeleteBeing a strong believer in the right of Americans to own and bear arms I am in favor of the bill ASU has adopted. I feel this bill will allow staff to take a role in ensuring safety.
I believe that guns should not be allowed on campus for anyone except the members of the University Police Department. If students, as well as faculty, are allowed to carry weapons and a shooting occurs in a lecture hall, what is a UPD officer to do when he rushes in and sees some members of the class dead while the rest are pointing and possibly shooting guns at each other?
ReplyDeleteHot-headed teenagers carrying guns on a college campus is just not safe. Any minor argument could become a life and death situation. Allowing guns, in a way, encourages more violence.
The House Bill adopted February 10, 2011 can’t be good. To let faculty bring their handguns onto campus only let what shouldn’t happen, happen. I believe that if a student brings something onto campus like a gun, that’s at his or her own risk. When you allow faculty to do this, it only brings danger to class everyday.
ReplyDeleteThe cause of violence in schools is when kids bring the weapons. A teacher may bring a gun into school and set off a kid to take it from them for no reason, when this could have been avoided in the beginning.
Is this a question that must be asked? There is a need on college campuses for people to protect themselves as shown by ConcealedCampus.com documented reports of 26,000 assaults and 100 murders on campuses from 2005-2007.
ReplyDeleteSay you are sitting in a class and a gunman enters. He starts spraying bullets. What are you going to do? If you have no weapon to fight back you are left defenseless.
I’m not protected by a can of mace or taekwondo routines, these self defense mechanisms are no match for a gun. We need defense against people who want to do harm.
James Fox, in his article Fueling Contagion of Campus Bloodshed, touches on states passing bills allowing faculty and students to carry firearms on college campuses. Fox suggests that we may be trying to put out a fire that isn’t burning so out of control.
ReplyDeleteOn the issue of homicides reported on college campuses between 2001 and 2005, Fox says, “The count of undergraduate and graduate students murdered at school numbered 43 – fewer than 10 per year, on average. When compared with virtually any metropolitan area, a student’s chance of falling victim actually decreases once he or she steps on campus.”
No smoking on campus will no longer apply to gun smoke. Every news angle on any shooting states guns are the source of the problem. Guns don’t kill people, people kill people, but HB 1479 will equip people with the weapons to commit what one calls irresponsibility. Should bringing guns to campus ease the minds of parents, students and staff? If HB 1479 passes and a school shooting occurs involving a faculty or staff member with a license for conceal to carry, should investigators arrest congressmen who voted in favor of the bill based on aiding and abetting a criminal?
ReplyDeleteAs a college student I think of more than just my education here on campus, I also involve my safety. Apparently Legislators in the State of Arkansas are trying to pursue the law of right to bear arms on college campus for faulty, staff and students as well. The idea of the safety tip is more like an entrance to a danger zone on a whole different level. With weapons allowed in a learning institution students will not feel comfortable around the environment; this will create a serious issue not for the better but more the worst in student education.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, we must not be allowed to carry guns on campus. The thought of a repeat of Virginia Tech frightens me. What we need to do is implement a text message warning system, that lets us know when an emergency on campus has taken place. Carrying guns on campus doesn’t solve our problems. There have been too many tragedies on schools and college campuses, and I personally think carrying guns would just set us up for a repeat, and no one wants that. If everyone is on board, let’s implement the text message warning system to our campus.
ReplyDeleteI don't think allowing people carry guns on campus a good idea. The reasons are as follows:
ReplyDeleteFirst, it probably increases others’ risk of being shot. From 1979 o 2004, there were 57 murders happening on campus all over the word. 51 murders happened in American campuses (almost 90%). In 2007, 32 people dead in the deadest campus shooting in Virginia University.
Moreover, the trainings and licenses are not assured enough to keep people away from being shot. Angry, jealous, hatred, stress, and even arguments can make people lose their self-control.
In conclusion, allowing guns on campus is a bad idea.
If house bill 1479 passes through congress then faculty and staff on any Arkansas campus will be allowed to carry a concealed weapon if the have a permit. This would greatly increase security, but all these extra guns on campus worries me. There have been quite a few college shootings in the past. In 2002 Douglas Pennington killed himself and his 2 sons during a visit to shepherd College, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. More recently in 2007 a gunman killed thirty people in a dorm and a classroom at Virginia tech. In situations like these the altercation might not have happened if there had been a weapon present.
ReplyDeleteTuesday, Arkansas state legislature signed a bill that would allow the carry of concealed weapons on campus by trained, licensed faculty and staff.
ReplyDeleteIn an area with a past of gun violence (Westside Middle School Shooting, 1998), the talk of gun possession has got Jonesboro uneasy.
However, if the law passes, those eligible must undergo an eight hour training class. The law only applies to faculty and staff, not students.
As this bill inches closer to becoming a law, we need to understand that the good outweighs the risks, making it an extra safety measure that our college campuses need.
Concealed weapons should be allowed on university campuses, but the people carrying concealed weapons need to have proper training in order to be able to get their license to carry it. Campuses are less likely to be targeted if they allow faculty, staff and students to carry concealed weapons because the criminal would not know who is carrying a weapon and who is not. If faculty, staff and/or students had been allowed to carry concealed weapons at Virginia Tech, someone could have shot Seung-Hui Cho before he took those lives on April 16, 2007. Guns on campuses would benefit universities.
ReplyDeleteThe campus has seen the multiple shootings throughout the US on college campuses, which makes people wonder if guns should be used for protection to keep from having all these deaths. Personally, I feel that would bring a more chaotic, crazed, and scary society to us all. The power of having a gun itself is more than enough to make someone go shoot something. Students should not have to protect themselves in order to have an education. It would frighten me more to think about guns being with people on campus every day than to think about a random shooting.
ReplyDeleteWith House Bill 1479 being passed, people are left to wonder how guns on campus will be approached. While Utah has allowed guns on campus for a while then Texas and Colorado considering, one has to worry for the future members of college campuses. Most people believe allowing students and faculty to carry guns will be beneficial to everyone’s safety but a possible severe consequence is students can be reckless in social settings and then they could be pulling out their gun to show off. It is going to leave some feeling secure and some in fear for their safety.
ReplyDeleteWhat if a student is having a bad day and receives a bad grade by their professor and just pulls out their weapon and shoots them? I think that having concealed guns on campus is ok if it were just faculty that could have them. I would feel safe with a trained professor having a weapon in case something happens, but I wouldn’t like sitting in class knowing that the person next to me may have a gun in their bag. If anyone at least 21 years of age can have one, the chances of irresponsible actions is more likely.
ReplyDeleteHaving guns on campus sounds like a good idea, but it depends on
ReplyDeletewho’s holding the gun. On ASU campus the UPD train twice a year, while
citizens only spend about 8 hours training for their license. Also the gun a person tests with may not be the gun they carry in their car.
School shootings on campus may be stopped faster if a professor had
a gun. I believe that guns on campus are a good idea only if the guns are in the right hands. The person with a gun needs to know how to handle it correctly.
If this were true we wouldn’t have all the school shootings such as: Westside, Columbine, and Virginia Tech. But it is usually the good Samaritans of the world that stop bad things from happening before officials have time to get there. Weapon carriers do need to know about the law to carry a weapon and need to spend time on the shooting range or how else would we get the criminal if we shoot like a blind person? This is a huge controversy between people in Arkansas, but I don’t think our campus is ready for such a drastic change.
ReplyDeleteI am against the bill. Concealed weapons on a University campus can save a life but also take one. The chances of becoming an active shooter are just as great as stopping one. On April, 2007, an active shooting occurred on Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, VA. where 33 people were killed and 25 wounded. If guns are allowed on campus, this incident could happen at ASU-J. Bad grades, a small altercation or misunderstanding could spark then ending of multiple peoples’ lives. Legalizing guns on campus decrease the safety of others. Arkansas legislators should not legalize concealed weapons on campus.
ReplyDeleteAllowing teachers to be armed could be beneficial in the case of an emergency, such as a shooting. However, the chances of a shooting happening are slim, and there’s no guarantee that they would be able to react quickly enough to save anyone.
ReplyDeleteEven with training for a concealed carry permit, some people may not understand what they are capable of, armed with a handgun. It seems obvious to me that this bill would do more harm than good. Common sense will tell you that more guns equal more violence. Security on college campuses should be left to the police.
I believe it would be smart to allow faculty and staff to carry concealed weapons. People trust adult figures. Also, the police aren’t guaranteed to arrive at a situation involving an armed person in time to apprehend them.
ReplyDeleteIn regards with Texas’ proposal, I do not agree with allowing students to have weapons on their person. Like I said earlier people trust respected professors and educators, at least more than teenagers. I would rather an adult handle those situations than a teenager. Having trained faculty with concealed weapons could be useful and important to the overall safety of college campuses.
Some students are concerned about how having guns on campus may result in unnecessary violence however, I feel that having guns on campus will prevent these crimes since gun-free zones are shooting galleries for mass murderers.
ReplyDeleteUtah is currently the only state that has a policy allowing permit holders to carry guns on college campuses. One student in Utah, who has decided to carry a handgun, said, “Last year, after Vigrinia Tech, I though ‘I’m not going to be a victim… I couldn’t help but think it could’ve been different if they’d allowed the students the right to protect themselves.”
Gun control has become an issue in the past couple of years and is being enforced in almost any public building or area such as post offices, courthouses and college campuses. However, according to the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States clearly states, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” That being said I do not believe that our rights to bear arms should be infringed in any way. People have the right to carry a firearm with them unless they have stripped of the right due to certain instances.
ReplyDeleteI am torn on this issue; in a way it sounds sensible to allow students and faculty to carry guns in case of incidents such as the Virginia Tech. Massacre.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand ASU-J campus interim chief, Randy Martin, made a good point in my opinion during the March 03 Jonesboro Sun article when he made the point that under trained civilians may not be able to handle the situation properly. This could potential make a situation worse and endanger more people.
With our state’s neighbor, Texas, being a possible forerunner for campus gun reform, will Arkansas be next?
Guns don’t kill people; people with guns do. Just because the gun is with a faculty member doesn’t make any difference. Those who have a concealed handgun license are only required to renew their licenses every five years. Law officers are required to train with their handguns once a year and university police departments train twice a year. If these officers who handle guns everyday still see the need to train, why don’t the civilians who barley touch their guns give it a try? Point is, accidents happen. Lets not make it any easier by adding guns to the mix.
ReplyDeleteI think a bill that allows faculty, staff and students to carry guns on college and university campuses is a fine idea, with one exception. I’m sure there are already people that have concealed weapons permits, and bring their guns to school with them. I think it’s the adults’ decision to carry a weapon with them or not, and hopefully it’s only for their own protection. One thing I do not agree with is the amount of time it takes for a person to be trained with the weapon. It concerns me some are uneducated about the weapon they own.
ReplyDeleteToday I came upon looking at the new bill that the House Committee is attempting to pass. The House Bill of 1479 will allow faculty and staff to carry concealed weapons to class. I don’t think it’s right that staff members can carry handguns on campus. I feel that as long as a student is registered with plenty of training he or she should be allowed to bring concealed weapons to campus. Some students would be concerned with a teacher having a handgun in classroom. My opinion about the situation is that handguns would be a distraction in the classroom.
ReplyDelete