Essay on Guns on College Campuses: A Threat or Solution?

Guns are trying to make their place in colleges to “increase” safety measures from danger. However, from finals to thinking about the future, college is a stressful and terrifying, new place. College is a place for teens to become young adults, start to depend on themselves, and plan for their future. All these emotions are plenty to deal with and should not be accompanied by the fear of allowing guns on campuses. Some students see school as a safe environment, yet if guns are continued to be allowed on college campuses it could be the next crime scene for a mass school shooting. Guns have already increased suicide, gun violence, and fear rates. So why are we still allowing them around an environment made for learning and growing?

Guns are weapons that incorporate a metal tube from which a bullet shoots out from it. To own a gun is very common in America, and has been allowed since 1791 when the Second Amendment was issued. However, gun-carrying permits weren’t legal till the mid 19th century. Today, getting a carrying permit is only four easy steps to take. The first step of getting a carrying permit is researching one’s state’s rules and regulations. After doing the research one would need to have, depending on the state one might have to take a concealed carrying course. If one’s state requires it and they pass the course then they can fill out their application. Depending on one’s state's rules, some applications might require fingerprints, background checks, or a certificate stating the individual applying for the permit took a fireman training course. If one’s application is approved, then they can take their gun anywhere guns are permitted. A carrying permit will last for one’s whole life unless the development of a criminal record occurs. Every couple of years renewing a carrying permit is mandatory. By one having the power to carry a gun, giving them the power to kill someone, is incredibly treacherous. College students are young and have impressionable minds; guns can be taken advantage of in certain situations. When the Second Amendment was written, the author, James Madison, didn’t believe it was ethical to allow college students to possess firearms. If the author of the Second Amendment wasn’t in favor of allowing guns on college campuses why are college students allowed to apply for carrying permits when they are in situations where their judgment is off?

Mental health is a serious issue that affects many college students in different ways, such as causing them to not be in the right mindset. In states that force their states to allow concealed carrying permits on campus, like Texas and Utah, suicide rates have gone up dramatically. According to research, “A large body of research ranging from comparative studies of households where suicides have occurred and ones where they have not, studies examining the association between states’ suicide rates and gun ownership, and evaluations of laws designed to restrict firearms access of high-risk individuals clearly shows that access increases the risk of suicide” (Webster, 2016). With college students having the ability to access guns, suicide rates have increased and will continue to increase because of the convenience. Having mental health issues will also cause students to not have the best judgment on how to properly solve their struggles. Although not all college students suffer from mental health issues, a study shows, “In another 2019 national survey, three out of five college students reported “overwhelming anxiety” in the past year, and two out of five “felt so depressed that it was difficult to function.” Rates of suicidal ideation also doubled between the 2006-2007 and 2016-2017 school years” (Everytown, 2020). If students are feeling like their anxiety and depression is at an immense amount, they aren’t going to be in their normal headspace. With students being allowed to get carrying permits, guns would be able to be acquirable to use in ways of harming themselves if they really did intend to. Concealed carrying permits do not only cater to suicide rates, but they also increase accidents that could be deadly.

Although college is filled with learning, it is also filled with irresponsible behavior that usually starts because of alcohol and drug ingestion. Commonly at college parties, there are alcohol games that involve students consuming unsafe amounts of alcohol or even drugs. According to research, “In a 2019 national survey, 62 percent of US college students reported drinking alcohol in the past month, 35 percent reported getting drunk, and 30 percent reported using illicit drugs. Students who carried guns on campus were also more likely to report drinking heavily and more frequently, drinking and driving, and vandalizing property” (Everytown, 2020). Thus with the popularity and normalcy of drinking and doing drugs, college students think they can get away with carrying a gun while under the influence of these narcotics and intoxicants. Alcohol and drugs can add to dangerous situations by escalating aggression and impairing one’s common sense about when and how to use a gun. More research also shows, “Students who reported having firearms at college disproportionately reported that they engaged in behaviors that put themselves and others at risk for injury” (Miller, 2010). Students who are making others feel unsafe with their actions, whether sober or not, are the ones more likely to be caring about something that could take a life. If the students who have guns to “protect” themselves or others are participating in actions that are harmful and unsafe, how are they going to properly use a firearm? Since the more reckless students have the carrying permits, if there is a situation where they need to protect themselves, they might not have the necessary experience or knowledge needed to cautiously shoot a firearm. 

Despite the fact that guns just add unneeded danger, Supporters of concealed carrying permits on college campuses say firearm carrying is beneficial to students for protection against sexual assault. An example of this, “Campus-carry proponents have turned to another equally specious argument: If guns were permitted at colleges and universities, victims of sexual assault could use them to fend off their attackers” (Webster, 2016). People who thinking gun-carrying should be legal on college campuses argue guns will help prevent sexual assault from even happening, Contradictory, evidence shows, “Yet a study by Harvard’s David Hemenway using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey from 2007 to 2011 showed that out of the 62 cases in which a respondent reported being a victim of a violent crime and using a gun in self-defense, not one involved a sexual assault. In fact, once a crime is in progress, the use of a gun by a victim in self-defense did not affect his or her risk of being injured one way or the other” (Webster, 2016). Evidence shows having a concealed firearm for protection against sexual assault is not effective in stopping or preventing an assault. People who support guns on college campuses most likely only want them for protection, but if research shows they don’t aid in protecting you, there is no point in carrying because of the jeopardy it can put one in.  

If states continue to force colleges to allow gun carrying on their campuses, students, faculty, and many others could be victims of gun violence that could have been avoided just by not allowing guns on campus. Just by looking at the evidence of the states who have allowed guns to be a part of their campus one could tell the suicide rates have gone up and the crime rates that pro-gun carries said would go down didn’t. Having guns present and being a part of the college experience shouldn’t even be a thing with the added tragedies and immense fear it can bring to college students.