The second amendment to the Bill of Rights guarantees Americans the right to keep and bear arms. However, as the authors of this document were drafting it back in 1789, did they ever imagine it could cause such uproar? After more than half of Texas’ House of Representatives have signed as co-authors of a measure allowing concealed handguns at universities, students, faculty and parents are panicking.
Collin College associate Professor of English, Karen Patton, voices her concerns on the bill.
“I find this proposed law puzzling,” Patton said. “This country does not allow young people between the ages of 18 and 21 to consume alcohol, presumably because they have not yet sufficiently developed maturity, self control, and good judgment. How does this make sense to encourage those same people to come to class carrying deadly weapons?”
A similar bill was passed in 2009 and it is expected to do so again. Texas boasts a lot of Lone Star pride and with 38 public universities, we would become the second state after Utah to pass a law of this nature.
“The law would affect so many people and that’s frightening,” senior Thea McDonald said. “I think Utah should remain the only state that permits the use of guns for students.”
Responsibility and sanity are key to owning a gun. In 1995, Texas passed the concealed handgun law which permitted people 21 or older to carry a gun after completing a training course and thorough background check.
“The steps to getting a concealed handgun license are a one day course with an instructor, or an arduous Internet process like eSchool,” senior Kevin Carringer said. “The requirements for the day course are a 10 hour personal instruction including a shooting test.”
Unfortunately, America has witnessed the deaths of many college students with incidents such as the Virginia Tech Massacre, and the recent suicide of a University of Texas student this past fall.
“I believe some people could be mentally sound while they get the background check that permits them to carry a handgun and then take a turn for the worse later,” Carringer said.
Some politicians, professors and students believe this new law would benefit everyone because of the ability to self protect in the case of an emergency.
“Many girls would feel much safer walking home late at night if they had a concealed hand gun with them,” Carringer said. “The sense of safety would be a very good effect of the law.”
However, this freedom could backfire and create more danger to students.
“Due to the emotional instability of students and the tendency to party on college campuses, this law would cause danger to the students it is supposedly protecting,” senior Jordan Birdsong said. “Students aren’t calm-natured enough to handle this responsibility. It will end up in life-ending accidents.”
Birdsong, who will be attending Texas A&M in the fall, is aware that this law could change things on her future campus.
“I know the college I’m going to will give me a better education, but I will definitely be more wary and more distrusting of my fellow students,” Birdsong said. “There will always be that fear of a shooting in the back of my mind.”
At the end of the day, security is the ultimate goal for college students. Hopefully the state of Texas is keeping that in perspective when voting on this law.
“College students should feel safe in their classrooms to explore and respectfully articulate challenging and sometimes even controversial ideas,” Patton said. “Recent shooting deaths on campuses have been tragic and frightening. However, given the number of students attending colleges and universities, they are also rare. Making the presence of guns in the classroom a regular occurrence can only undercut a feeling of safety and freedom of expression.”
