A kind of safety that no one is safe from
Imagine students sitting next to you in class with a concealed weapon. Or giving a presentation at the front of the class. Or debating over a grade in a professor’s office.
As strange as it may seem, this idea is close to becoming a reality.
The Michigan Senate recently proposed a bill that would allow students with concealed weapon permits to carry weapons on campus. This means the opportunity for a campus shooting has now become easier.
The main argument for letting students with a concealed weapon permit bring a weapon to class is the rise in campus shootings. The ideology is if people who are trained and pass a screening are allowed to bring guns to campus, campus shootings will decrease. At the very least, students will be able to defend themselves against a potential shooting.
But this thinking is dangerous. College is a place of academics and growth. It is a place where everyone on campus should always feel safe. Students, professors, guest speakers — they all have a right to step foot onto any university and not feel threatened. The presence of a gun does not make everyone feel safe.
More guns in public creates more fear. The opportunity for a campus massacre becomes much easier with every student allowed to bring weapons to campus, even if they did go through a detailed screening. The main focus of a gun is to kill. One more gun on campus means one more chance for a massacre.
The way to stop shootings starts before anyone brings a gun to campus. The shooters at Columbine High School had planned their attack months in advance and were noticeably troubled.
Seung-Hui Cho, the shooter at Virginia Tech, had written very disturbing things in classes before his rampage on campus. And, like the Columbine shooters, he had his attack planned out far before he came to campus. Why didn’t anyone say anything to these individuals? Why didn’t a counselor, a fellow student or teacher pull these students aside and ask them what was on their mind?
Ignorance of a student’s well being does not grant the right for everyone to bring a gun to school.
There are resources open to students — alternatives that do not have to rely on violence. Counselors are always willing to speak to students about any and every problem they are facing. Or, if people are not willing to talk about their problems, it is up to the student body to recognize problems before something horrific happens. Pay attention and speak up: it just may save someone’s life.
Hopefully students will not feel the need to go out and get a weapons permit even if the bill becomes a law. If there is an increase in concealed weapons on campus, it should send a warning signal out to everyone: campus is not safer than it was before.
Violence does not negate more violence and more guns do not stop shooters.
