Would Allowing Students to Carry Weapons Make College Campuses Safer?

Would Allowing Students to Carry Weapons Make College Campuses Safer?

America has become haunted by the specter of deadly school shootings. As we all work to prevent further tragedy, some are advocating allowing students to carry concealed firearms as a means of defense. But would such measures really make college campuses safer?

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Long before we encourage or support students carrying weapons on college campuses, we should implement much less dangerous and much more effective security measures to help prevent school massacres. To begin with, how about requiring criminal background checks and proof of ID for all gun sales in the US?

Current Federal law only requires that background checks be performed on gun buyers if they buy guns from Federally Licensed gun dealers. According to the BATF licensed dealers only sell about 50% of guns sold each year. The other 50% are legally sold by private sellers out of their homes, backpacks, car trunks and at thousands of gun shows where no background check, record keeping or even ID is required. Consequently criminals, terrorists and mentally ill individuals can buy an unlimited number of military style weapons and easily concealed handguns without detection. How about that for a failed Federal policy? Is there any wonder why there are school massacres and a gun violence epidemic in the US?


We should also allow law enforcement to maintain gun purchase records and to share critical crime gun trace data with other Police Departments including Campus Police. Instead the FBI is required to destroy gun pruchase records (from dealers only) after 24 hours and the BATF is prohibited from sharing important crime gun trace data. Why? Because the nra and their shills in Congress have made law enforcement the enemy of gun rights and don't trust police to know who has guns including convicted felons and suspected terrorists.

On college campuses, where there's a large number of teenagers, many of whom by definition are "temporarily insane", there should be trained and paid professional security personel and counsellors, not armed and and dangerous students. I wonder, if those who advocate for arming students also support arming teachers? I can just imagine armed keg parties where a gun fight breaks out or a classroom where a a student who's given a low grade takes aim at the professor or professor shoots a student reaching for a pen thinking it's a gun, like actually happened in South Africa a few years ago. Also how many parents are going to send their pride and joys to schools that allow fellow students to carry concealed weapons in class or where there are armed teachers?

Isn't just common sense to require a criminal background check for all gun sales and allow trained public safety officials to know who is buying guns, maintain a database and share crime solving data to prevent future campus shootings before arming students and teachers on campus?

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