School Zone Gun Bans Do Not Deter Killers
If gun control worked, schools would be the safest places in the country. But gun free school zones have proven to be a dangerous delusion that has resulted in people being forced to be victims.
The only people guaranteed to be safe in gun free zones are criminals. They can count on the law-abiding being disarmed. In reality, gun free zones are nothing more than criminal safe zones.
Stricter gun control laws -- than those found in the United States -- have not prevented Scotland (1996), Germany (2002) and Canada (2006) from seeing school yard massacres in their countries.
Virginia Tech is a gun free zone. And the shooting which occurred at the university in 2007 was clearly the most horrific massacre ever on a U.S. school campus. Could one good person with a gun have made a difference? Well, there are the successful testimonies from Mississippi (1997), Pennsylvania (1998) and Virginia (2002) which clearly indicate that good people, when armed, can stop a gunman in his tracks. (See Argument #1.)
And then in December, 2007, the nation once again saw how one brave person can stop a killer who is bent on murdering dozens of people. A very well-armed man shot and killed two sisters in the parking lot of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He then entered the building where he was engaged by some of the twenty church members who had volunteered for the security team.
When Jeanne Assam told the shooter to drop his gun, he swung around, firing in an attempt to shoot her. She shot him repeatedly until he fell mortally wounded. He then took his own life. No innocent bystanders were killed inside the New Life Church, and none were shot by the security team.
Guns save lives.
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I agree with mer, I think allowing students to have concealed weapons might cause more harm than good. It's the campus security's job to protect students, so campuses should let them do their job. I realize that the police can't be everywhere at once as someone already mentioned, but they can still do a very good job at protecting us. I'm not saying that allowing students to have guns WILL make it more dangerous, but it could happen. If there are more weapons, there could be more accidents.
Sorry,I forgot to add the source where I acquired my information.
http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/school-shootings.html
As mer said, most, if not all college campuses have a security force. The members of this force are trained in handling situations like school shootings should they arise. Students carrying concealed weapons would not prevent school shootings. These students, for the most part are untrained in handling firearms and the panic stricken situation of a shooting. In the 2005-2006 school year, 14 school homicides occurred. In 1992-1993, 34 school homicides occurred. The amount of school shootings has been declining over the past few years. In fact the chance of such an occurrance, although not impossible, is incredibly rare. In the period between 1992 to 2001, an average of 9.3 school shootings took place. In approximately 119,000 schools of the U.S., each school would expect to have one school shooting every 12,800 years. This demonstrates the rarity of such an occurrance. And I do not mean to diminish the enormity of the few shootings that do happen, but the more students carrying weapons, the more potential for violence. Leave the task of security to police officers and security guards and not developing students.
True school shootings are incredibly rare but what about all the other crimes that occur on college campuses everyday. Ranging from assault to rape why are all those crimes not as important? Why does crossing an imaginary line on to a college campus not allow you the right to self defense? Also the place where you got all your information from is talking about High Schools not college campuses. I don't current have the time to look up college statistics but in the next few days I will attempt to find the stats for college campuses.
All this talk is about students carrying concealed weapons to protect themselves, but isn't that already someone else's job? Every campus I've ever been to has campus security. Isn't it their RESPONSIBILITY to make sure everyone on campus is safe? Shouldn't they be the people stepping up to protect the students and faculty, not the students?
Allowing students to carry concealed weapons on campus would just tempt them to pull their gun on someone to scare or intimidate them. This alone could increase the number of individual deaths by gun violence on college campuses.
Students have enough on their plates at college with studies and being on their own for the first time. They shouldn't have to be worried about protecting everyone at their school too, especially when that is already someone else's job.
It is physically impossible for the police to be everywhere at all times. Both Vtech and NIU had officers or some form of security on campus and shootings still occurred. At NIU the officers responded in under 3 minutes and still 6 people died. That is a phenomenal response time and people still were killed and injured. Not to mention according to the supreme court case Warren v. District of Columbia the police are under know legal responsibility to protect any specific citizen. So actually it is YOUR responsibility to protect yourself so no blaming the government for this one its all on you.
These students are also adults you can only obtain a permit in most states if you are over the age of 21. I don't recall any stories where permit holders got mad and pulled their firearms to scare or intimidate off campus so why would it happen on campus. That is already illegal to do so why does this scenario happen on campus if it doesn't happen off campus when these adults carry everyday.
You are right college students have a lot on their plates but since we already proved it is their responsibility to protect themselves i guess they will have to deal. We don't advocate a permit holder to act as a one man/women police force and go after an assailant we just want the opportunity to defend ourselves when we are directly threatened. Also since you have to be 21 in almost all of the states I am not aware of many 21 year-olds that are just out on their own most are college juniors and seniors and they are adults who can already carry in malls, movie theaters, restaurants and in some states bars. They dont cause problems there so why is it that college campuses automatically make every permit holder a deranged killer.
I'm not at all sure I trust anyone on campus with me with a concealed-carry weapon if they're just a student. What if they're paranoid enough to carry a concealed-carry weapon simply because they're paranoid? There's absolutely no assurance that whoever has the gun won't overreact to a tense situation, or a perceived attack, and shoot unarmed people.
I support concealed-carry in the hands of people trained to use a gun and discriminate between hostile people and those who are just panicked. Random people with the money to obtain a gun and the nervousness to want to carry one every day do not inspire me with confidence.
Let's just get this straight. CCL holders don't carry because they're "paranoid", they carry because they're responsible citizens. Everyone that I know, including myself, takes pride in the fact that they've undergone extensive training, through both professional and personal avenues, to make sure that they're intimately knowledgeable about their firearms and as prepared as a person can be for a life or death situation. We're not a bunch of gun-toting nutjobs, and we're sure as hell not paranoid.
Cars kill many more people per year than guns .
You probably won't get pulled over everyday, but you carry your license everyday just in case. Same with responsible CCL holders. Even though the chance of use is slight, we still carry just in case.
I think that if someone with alot of money wants a concealed wepon because their paranoid shouldn't be able to obtain one. If they always think that somone is after them then they should get some help. If its someone that wants one because they would feel safer in a situation when they are robbed then by all means let them have one. But for paranoid people that are short tempered and tense in a tight spot.
Why is the fact they are students change anything? They still have to be over 21 pass a background check that includes a mental health check and in most states take a firearm class. Carrying a concealed handgun is not paranoia it is the acceptance of responsibility for your own personal protection. Yet again as I have said on here many times what makes a college campus any different from mall, grocery stores, bowling alleys, movie theaters, restaurants or any other place adults with concealed weapons permits can carry. You don't here about a CWP holder going off and shooting unarmed people in those places what makes a college so different.
Your second paragraph completely contradicts itself. We aren't saying we are going to go out and arm everyone we are just going to allow those already legally able to carry their firearms everywhere else to be able to defend themselves on college campuses. The way the current laws are written only criminals can carry on campus because they don't follow the laws anyways, those that get CWP's are law abiding citizens that are currently defenseless.
I know how to load a gun, hold a gun, and fire a gun. I wasn't a bad shot when I was practicing. That does indeed make me unlikely to just accidentally shoot someone. What about the situations you want people to be carrying a gun for? Put me in a school hallway with gunshots coming closer and a gun in my hand, and it probably would end badly; I'd worry I would shoot the wrong person for running through a door and startling me. I have even less confidence in the nerve and judgement of the student body. Flight beats fight unless you've trained for combat.
Colleges aren't a threatening atmosphere. Anyone who gets up in the middle of junior year, after an entire year and a half of no incidents and seeing no weapons, and still straps on their concealed-carry holster might just have an issue with his or her threat-assessment meter. That's... uninspiring.
And just because you lack the confidence doesn't mean other do as well.
I never said flight wasn't an option. If I was in a hallway and heard shots coming from one direction I would be going in the other direction looking for cover. I am not some SWOT trained cop my job isn't to protect everyone in the school my job is to protect myself and those I care about. If by protecting myself I am protecting other people around me then that is a byproduct. Now you are just projecting your own abilities onto everyone else, you basically said because you can’t do it no one can. If you were a friend of mine and decided to carry a concealed handgun but still had those reservations I would tell you not to carry you obviously don't have the right mentality to carry yet. To carry you have to accept the fact that you may actually have to use your gun, carrying a handgun when you’re not ready to use it is more dangerous than not carrying. If you aren't ready to pull the trigger you shouldn’t be carrying. I will agree that flight beats fight if it is possible, what I am worried about is the times when you can’t run. The shooter at Vtech locked the doors as he came in so unless there was a window close by you were SOL.
I don't know what college you go to but if you haven't seen or heard about any threatening behavior you are very sheltered or very lucky. I carry because I accept the fact that bad things can happen and I would like to be prepared in case it ever does. I will say I have had to draw my gun in defense so it has happened to me not in the town where my college is but it did happen. Statistically I will probably have to draw again in my life but also statistically speaking I will never have to fire my gun and I hope and pray that I never will. I have never been part of a school shooting but I know it is a possible.
Actually I am not worried about a major school shooting happening at my campus what scares me is all the other violent crime that is much more prevalent. Including robbery, battery, assault, these crimes even at my campus which is way out in the middle of the country are prevalent. The biggest one around here is forcible rape, it happens here a lot and I know many female friends that would carry if they had the choice to protect themselves from these crimes. Like I said I am not really concerned about a major school shooting (thou I would rather be armed when needed then need it and not be armed) but what I am worried about is walking back to my apartment at 7pm down dark paths because that is the only way home.
Also show me where this has happened off campus, I tried looking and I didn't find any instances of a permit holder missing and hitting an innocent person. I am not saying it doesn't happen I know it does but statistically you are more likely to get hit from a cops missed shot than a permit holders. The average distance of a permit holder shots are 10ft or less and the exchange of gunfire lasts less than 10seconds total. "What is worse than allowing an execution-style massacre to continue uncontested? How could any action with the potential to stop or slow a deranged killer intent on slaughtering victim after victim be considered ‘worse’ than allowing that killer to continue undeterred?” http://www.concealedcampus.org/arguments.htm please read this it handles most if not all the questions you may have if there are any more let me know and I will try and answer to the best of my ability.
"Also show me where this has happened off campus, I tried looking and I didn't find any instances of a permit holder missing and hitting an innocent person."
I may be late on this and I don't know if you already know about the following (even if this is not the example you're looking for), but here's an example of how a student with a gun permit (concealed carry) was able to save his fellow students from a couple of home invaders. This occurred off-campus of course:
College Student Shoots, Kills Home Invader
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/19365762/detail.html
2nd Amendment Saves Lives: College Student Shoots, Kills Home Invader
http://www.prisonplanet.com/2nd-amendment-lives-college-student-shoots-kills-home-invader.html
College Student Kills Home Invader
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmsN-ySkv-o&fmt=18
This is one example I know so far where student with a concealed carry gun permit used his weapon to save the lives of his fellow students. Just thought I'd share this May 2009 story. Thanks.