On Thursday, April 16th, the 2nd anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, over two hundred University of Texas students made the trip to Austin, Texas to protest a state bill which would allow students to carry concealed handguns at public universities. There are so many things wrong with this bill.
First of all, John Woods, himself a student survivor of the shootings at Virginia Tech, stated that merely the carrying of concealed weapons on campus would raise the level of likelihood of campus shootings. It would certainly not make campuses safer by any stretch of the imagination. His co-survivors have canted the same thing-more guns would not have helped at all at Virginia Tech.
Secondly, there have not been any out of control arguments or clashes on campus that the security teams have not been able to handle and it would take only one gun to ruin the whole context. Having concealed weapons on campus would interfere with the flow of ideas which is one of the rudiments of free speech.
Thirdly only a few students over the age of 21 would be eligible to carry a weapon and only after a rigorous training course. According to the UT Student Body President, Keshay Rajagopalan, there is an intrinsic reason why handguns are not allowed in schools, colleges, universities, hospitals and nursing homes. Classrooms should be free of any threat of warfare between students. Professors should feel safe in lecturing and students should feel safe in learning.
Other states and other universities are more than likely to come across this piece of legislation in a future context and it would be interesting to see and hear what they have to say. Everyone has a stake in this matter
All students, faculty and staff arrive on campus and they should feel safe. It is for the common good.