A new ordinance that would allow concealed weapons on some college campuses has students questioning their safety.
The new legislation allows students older than 21 to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The legislation protects the safety of the students by allowing students to respond on their own to dangers that may arise. When passed in a certain state, the legislation allows the college and universities in that state to decide
whether they want to participate in the act. The ordinance has already passed on some campuses in Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Vermont, and Alaska, and is now being considered in Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho, and Washington D.C. At the moment, Utah is the only state which allows students and professors to carry concealed guns at all of its public colleges.
Grace Lindvall, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, one of the states that is considering the ordinance, believes that students cannot be trusted with guns. “I think the people who want to carry guns on them daily want to use them, rarely for the right purposes.” Lindvall believes that allowing students to carry a concealed weapon makes a campus less safe. She suggests that this promotes an attitude of violence. “If protection is the purpose for this law then the state should take more protective action with police and campus safety, rather than allowing students to bring weapons just in case.”
Gabe Sirkman, also a sophomore at the University of Michigan, strongly agrees. “Someone with murderous intents but without a gun can’t act with the same speed and lack of consciousness that someone with a gun can.” Sirkman says he is scared because “at the click of a button someone can decide if someone else lives or dies.”
The University of Michigan prohibits weapons on campus, except in very specific circumstances. Diane Brown, a public safety information officer at the University of Michigan, says the university as a whole would be opposed to any law which counters their current policy on weapons.
Rick Appling, the president of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) strongly supports the bill. The SCCC is a group of 24,000 college students, college faculty members, parents of college students, and concerned citizens who support concealed carry on campuses. Appling strongly believes that trained, licensed people more than 21 years of age should be able to carry concealed weapons for protection. Nineteen of the thirty-two victims of the Virginia Tech. massacre were older than 21 (the legal age limit for obtaining a concealed handgun license in Virginia). Appling wants the ordinance to pass because he does not want students to have to count the seconds until the police arrive. “I don’t live my life in fear, I will not die on my knees” he said. Appling and the SCCC as a whole want to educate college campuses throughout the nation on the advantages of concealed weapons.
While, New York is one of the states that has no immediate intentions of passing the legislation, students at New York University, a campus that is not associated with SCCC, are beginning to grapple with this new idea plaguing their fellow students.
Rebecca Greenberg, a sophomore at New York University, does not believe in guns. “Who is to say that if you have a gun sitting around someone else may not steal it and use it to kill?” In almost all situations, Greenberg believes the presence of guns makes the situation more dangerous.
Rob Schlissel, a senior at New York University, is old enough to warrant a permit for concealed carry in some states. He feels strongly that concealed weapons on college campuses are productive in promoting violence, but counterproductive in promoting the peace the SCCC is looking for. In response to the idea of this ordinance ever being allowed on New York University’s campus, Schlissel said he is glad to be graduating. ###
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