After many mass shootings on the universities and school campuses, allowing students to legally carry a concealed weapon has become a big argument that lots of people across the country are having. People are not feeling safe while they are on campus and they want changes because firearms are not allowed on campus. Not everyone will agree to have guns on campus but everyone will agree on the right to feel safe. I am a college student so therefore this topic has something to do with me and other college students around the nation. A real life example of someone who does not feel safe on a college campus is a girl from an article on BBC.com named Taylor Woolrich. She was being stalked on a daily basis for years. Taylor waitressed at a cafe in California and that's when this whole epidemic started. Ever since her stalker saw her there he has been tracking her down, contacting her, and even had a restraining order put on him! Taylor has been running from this man for a number of years and it will not stop. She even tried moving across the country to get away from this man but it still was not enough. In this instance Taylor is defenseless, she tried to get the police involved but it was not enough. She feels like the only way she will feel safe is if she as a gun. It is easy to feel bad for Taylor and hear out what she has to say on the issue. 

 Out of the top ten schools in the country that had the most burglaries the State of South Carolina had 2, Benedict College being number three and South Carolina State being number seven ("Protecting"). Even though the University of South Carolina is not on the list its students are still affected because these colleges are very close by.  Nationwide there have been many tragic events that has occurred on college campuses within the recent years. Incidents such as the Virginia Tech shooting, Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre, and Northern Illinois University shootings have all happened within the past five years. These incidents show that college students should have the option to carry a concealed weapon on campus with a valid license so, that they can protect themselves at all times. 

Personal connection to not feeling safe on campus

There have been times where I have been scared and intimidated on a college campus. I went to Allen University to visit a friend one night and as I was walking it was really dark, the street lights were dim, and there was no one out besides myself. As I am walking to my friends dorm I see a flipped over police car and immediately I was confused. I kept walking and thinking that I have no way to protect myself if anything happens right now. Once I thought about that I got even more scared and called my roommate to pick me up and take me home. I could not do anything about it because concealed weapons are illegal on college campuses. I did not feel safe by any means and I think that should not be a feeling anyone should have especially on a college campus where dangers lurk everywhere. If I was allowed to exercise my right to carry a concealed weapon then I would have felt safer than I did that night.

 Another example of why this issue is important to me, is when my sister was on the Florida State University campus when a shooting took place. As soon as I heard this, I tried calling her and texting her and she never answered or replied. So at this point, I am scared to death and I'm thinking that my sister has been either injured really bad or worse dead. I also knew that my sister could not protect herself because she had no way of doing so, she had no gun, Taser, etc. I am offering a perspective of a college student who has experienced feeling unsafe on a college campus and have been worried about someone they love being unsafe on a college campus. 

Argument for concealed carry

Having concealed weapons on college campuses has been a nationwide issue that is consistently talked about on a daily basis. My audience is all college students and they are a part of the topic of having the option to carry a concealed weapon and play a major role in whether or not this thought can become reality and effects them in a big way. My topic has been very hot within the past decade or so, but I feel like it is being overlooked by the people who can make the changes. It needs to be addressed because potentially many lives could be put in jeopardy. More mass shootings and awful tragedies could take place if we do not deal with this. Since this issue was first brought up, a lot of policies and laws have not been changed or has taken place to change this matter. The longer we wait to focus and discuss this topic, the more chances of another tragedy happening becomes greater.

In the United States Constitution, the Second Amendment states that you have the right to bear arms, which means that you can carry a licensed weapon on you during any legal and appropriate occasion. The competition against this right is that people say that the Second Amendment already takes care of the issue, when in fact it does not. Law abiding citizens can exercise this right to bear arms like the Second Amendment says. It is your right, but your "arms" is not necessarily used for your protection. Just because you step on a college campus does not mean that they can take away your right to still bear arms. It should not matter where you are in the country you should still be able to exercise that right and this includes on a college campus. The chance of college students being able to have a concealed weapon on campus would help prevent school violence. Prevention is very important and having more concealed weapons on campus will help this problem. Across the United States, many universities have the policy of no guns on campus. This seems to violate our right to bear arms. Some universities such as the University of Texas, universities in Utah as well as Mississippi are starting to change this policy and there legislation. For example, Wisconsin campus have to post a sign on the front door that says no weapons allowed. Also, in the state of Utah they specifically forbid the public colleges from banning people from carrying concealed weapons. The rest of the states are divided into either not allowing concealed weapons on campus at all or for allowing the colleges that set their own weapon policies (Skorton and Altschuler).

The argument of whether college students should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon on campus is one that is trying to protect the people on campus. The whole point of this argument is to find a way to protect the students on campus the best way possible. It has come up because of all the different tragic events that have happened within the past five to ten years. Events like the Virginia Tech shooting, Sandy Hook Elementary, Northern Illinois University, Northern Arizona University, the Florida State Shooting, Oregon Community College, and even the Umpqua Community College massacre. There are even more incidents that took place that was not named. Because of these events the concern lies where do the students get there protection from. The police cannot send out troops to every spot or corner of the university to monitor everything because there are not that many officers to go around. So the theory was what if students can protect themselves in the appropriate way that is not against the law. David Burnett of Students for Concealed Carry said "Allowing licensed concealed carry would give potential attackers pause and ultimately give innocent victims a fighting chance" (Skorton, Altschuler 3). If students have the ability to carry a concealed weapon then they have a better chance of defending themselves and also diffusing the situation as a whole. This could be a life or death situation for the victim. If the whole point is to protect the students on campus from the dangers that await around them then why are we not putting them in the best spot possible?

 If carrying a concealed weapon increases the chance of survival ultimately then why not let them carry a concealed weapon? Especially if the main goal and focus is to try to protect college students across the country. In the Washington Times there is an article that advocates for concealed carry on campus because of the recent college shootings. The spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry, Michael Newbern says "Every single one of these is an example of where law-abiding citizen's ability to fight back has been restricted by law, and the bad guy has the upper hand" (Richardson 1). Just like David Burnett, Michael Newbern believes that relaxing the law that having a concealed weapon would increase the chances of survival from the perpetrator. By not allowing the option to carry a concealed weapon on campus we are giving the shooters an advantage! 

 Multiple students are killed by active shooters every year on campus and there is very little protection for these people because guns are not allowed on campus. If the police cannot be everywhere to protect everyone, then what happens when they face a gun and they are defenseless?  For example, the University of Texas has passed a new policy allowing college students to carry concealed weapons with a valid license in certain restricted areas. These restricted areas are sporting events, housing, and laboratories. This change is effective August 2016 (Watkins). Many other universities, like in Colorado, Mississippi, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Utah, are having laws allowing concealed carry at public colleges and universities (Skorton and Altschuler). Other states are still divided about having concealed weapons on campus and are allowing the universities to have their own policy about concealed carry. These policy changes show that something new is needed in today's time with because of all of the crime on campus.

I am not picking a side on whether college students should have concealed weapons on campus or not. I am just arguing to have the option to carry them if they want to. In my personal experiences, I have been scared to walk on any college campus sometimes because I never know what is going to happen or break out. At times, I will be scared for my life because I know I will be at a disadvantage if someone pulls out a gun on me. 

Additionally, another example is how I thought my sister was dead because I knew she was not able to protect herself from the gunman because she had no weapon on campus which is currently illegal. Also, in my research I found an article that talk about a girl named Taylor Woolrich. Basically she was being stalked and her stalker gets out of jail soon and she does not know how to protect herself because no concealed weapons are allowed on college campuses. 

A national group called Students for Concealed Carry is a group that fights for the right to have a concealed weapon on college campuses. This group fights for people like my sister and Taylor Woolrich who cannot protect themselves to the best of their ability because of the law. The director of the group Crayle Vanest said "As soon as you walk into the doors of a university you should be able to carry your gun if you have a license" (Vaidyanathan 2). They believe that you should have the right to carry your weapon with a valid license so that students can protect themselves.

Counter argument against concealed carry

Many people disagree that students should be able to carry a concealed weapon on a college campus. They believe that the more guns that you have then the more violence with those guns will occur. Not everyone will have guns on campus, it will only be people who decide that they want to carry the concealed weapon and that is eligible to do so. Not every student will be allowed to carry a concealed weapon and for the ones who do they will only be allowed in certain restricted areas such as housing, laboratories, and sporting events. Logically it makes sense that the more you have the more chances there will be more violence but there will be many rules implemented throughout the process. The universities can start having things such as a weekly check for registration, mental health screenings, and annual classes that will be taken outside of school. With this process in place not only will the people who carry the guns feel safer, but also the people who do not carry as well. With these different changes in place, I feel like there will be a better, happier, and safer environment on campus. 

Another reason that people say is that the more guns you have does not stop or help prevent violence. So because there are more firearms present in a situation then that does not mean that it will stop or prevent a situation from happening. I believe that this is somewhat correct and true but not quite. To illustrate, think about if you were a criminal on campus and you tried to shoot at someone. Knowing that not only the police officers carry a legal weapon, but also your fellow classmates, teammates, and student body can also carry a weapon for their own protection adds to the argument that having an option to carry a concealed weapon. This may somewhat discourage the criminals from doing their illegal activities, but it may not because some of the shooters are usually mentally disturbed. The criminals will think twice about their plan before they go and do something because they realize that there life could be in danger if they made the wrong move. I think that if there are more guns that are being carried then it will help reduce the crime rate on campus by a good percentage.

Another supporting argument for not having guns on campus, is that some people believe that the job of defending campuses against violent attacks should be left to the professionals. This idea is one that is logical and makes complete sense and is valid. I honestly would rather have a professional do their job rather than have someone with no experience go and do something they have no idea what they are doing. People also say that they want the professionals to carry the guns or endorse the idea that only the professional should have the weapons. How I view this is that there are not unlimited campus police officers. Everyone needs help at some point, but I'm not saying a student should go out and be a hero and try to do the cops job either. Whenever crime happens, usually it starts when the cops are not around. So it would be beneficial for the students to have the concealed weapons in order to protect themselves since a lot of universities do not have enough money to hire more police officers.

There are many people who disagree that college students should have the right to carry a concealed weapon on campus. At the University of Texas, the school passed the concealed carry law which means that students have the right to carry their licensed weapon. They were one of the first schools to pass the concealed carry law. An economics professor at the University of Texas just recently announced that he would resign from his job because of the new concealed carry law. The professor said "With a huge group of students my perception is that the risk that a disgruntled student might bring a gun into the classroom and start shooting at me has been substantially enhanced by the concealed-carry law" (Richardson 3). The professor resigned because he doesn't want students who are unexperienced to carry a hand gun in places that are populated and could potentially take a life or maybe his. 

A gun is a weapon that can be used to take a life of any individual. It is not something that you can play around with because it is deadly weapon. I think that just because there are more people that carry a concealed weapon does not mean that there would be an outbreak or any sort. People tend to always look at the negative things but always overlook what is positive in a situation. For instance, it seems as though having more guns that are in the area the more protection you can have. Or students that decide that they want to carry a concealed weapon are trying to not only protect themselves, but also help protect others. There are so many things that are overlooked as far as this issue is concerned. It's not all about the destruction that it may or may not because it's about whether it can better the world or community as a whole. I truly believe that college students should at least have the option to carry a concealed weapon on a college campus so that they can protect themselves from the dangers that are around them on a day to day basis.  

Conclusion

In conclusion, college students should have the option to carry a concealed weapon on campus. Students need to feel safe on campus, just because you are on a college campus that should not mean that you have your rights taken away from you. If the law does not change then many more lives could be at stake. Many other tragedies could happen if we do not address this issue with urgency. There will be no change in how students feel when they are on campus. If we do not change things then how can we expect to get different results? In BBC News, Taylor Woolrich says "What else am I supposed to do? What other option is there? I've tried everything, I've obeyed all the laws" (Vaidyanathan 2). This is the reason why students should be able to have the option to carry a concealed weapon on college campuses.

