Growing
up, everyone heard about the Columbine shooting. Although no one thought that
would happen to their kids, parents starting being scared to send their
children to school. That was before most of us were born so the idea of a
school shooting was fleeting. In 2007, another devastating shooting happened at
Virginia Tech. Most of us were pre-teens, but we were old enough to understand
what happened. I remember thinking, “Wow, I’m never going to Virginia Tech for
college,” as if they were now a target for school shootings. Little did I know,
the mass shooting problem in America would continue to grow and affect us all.
Although police brutality is nothing new, the media and social outcry has been
growing tremendously within the past few years. Even more recently this year we
had the mass shooting at Pulse night club in Orlando, Florida and the killing
of five Dallas police officers to name a few. All of these instances of gun
violence are forcing Americans to take a look at gun policy, and the split has
never been greater. Not only are politicians trying to figure out gun laws
within their states, but most states are also trying to figure out what to do
about carrying on college campuses. Should they allow concealed carry on campus
and if they do will that make more mass shootings occur, or if they ban
concealed carry on campus, will it infringe on individual rights?
Legislation
on gun laws in relation to college campuses really began growing in 2013.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, “In 2013, at least
19 states introduced legislation to allow concealed carry on campus in some
regard and in the 2014 legislative session, at least 14 states introduced
similar legislation.” Arkansas and Kansas were two of the front runners with
Arkansas trying to allow faculty members to conceal carry on campus, and Kansas
just trying to allow general concealed carrying. Arkansas passed their bill
with the only contingency being that if a governing board expressively makes a
rule against faculty carrying, then they have to abide. Kansas also passed
their bill but with the contingency that if a building has taken enough
security measures to keep students safe, then they can prohibit students from
conceal carrying on campus. Tennessee, Georgia, and Texas are states that have
also began legislation on this issue, with Texas actually passing a bill
allowing concealed carry on campus starting in August of 2016. At the same time,
in 2014, five states have tried to ban carrying on campus, but none were
successful.
To
make things easier, most states fall into three categories per the NCSL. The
states that completely ban concealed carrying on college campuses include, “California,
Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri,
Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina and Wyoming.” The states that allow individual
colleges to make the decision on concealed carry include, “Alabama, Alaska,
Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.”
Lastly, the states that have provisions allowing concealed carry on campus
include, “Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, Utah and
Wisconsin.”
Being
that Avila University is in Missouri, we don’t really have to worry about
concealed carry on campus at this moment. Many people probably hope that we end
up allowing concealed carry for students and faculty, and that could very well
happen as times progress. It’s hard to know which decision is better because
there are strong arguments on both sides. The most important thing is keeping
yourself safe and adjust to the changes as they come.
View my video here: http://touchcast.com/laugh_it_
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