Guns on Campuses in the USA - Coursework Example

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Guns on Campuses in the USA

Carrying of guns to school has become a common issue in most of the university campuses and colleges. In the international platform, the debates and conversations revolving around hidden guns in the institutions has evoked divisive and fierce reactions. An upsurge in crime rates have been discovered across the United States where about twenty-eight thousand, nine hundred and six cases of crime were recorded in the country in the year 2013, interestingly, this does not include forms of offences such as those related to drugs and several more criminal offences. It is important to realize that forty-nine states have prescribed laws that seek to prohibit guns in the college premises. Though there exist general laws established to check on the act, twenty three of the states allow the campus management to make drafts of particular guidelines relating to the hidden guns in the university campuses.

A survey carried out in 1999 to determine the perception of the people regarding the idea of whether regular citizens should be allowed to carry their guns in the compound of the college campuses. The survey involved two thousand five hundred people living in the United States. It was discovered that ninety-four percent of the respondents did not buy into the idea of allowing citizens of carrying out guns in the compounds of the university campuses. Other studies conducted in Missouri University where three hundred and eighteen students were randomly sampled. The study demonstrated that most of the students thought that guns were not supposed to be in the university campus premises in a case where sixty percent of the male students and eighty percent of the female students opposed the idea of carrying guns to the compounds of the university. Though the study did not involve a large part of the population and was not meant to represent the general population of the University, it provided a general view to the immediate observatory outcome of the thoughts of the students regarding the concern.(Patten, Thomas, and Wada 2012)

The study prompts us to look into the ever growing literature regarding this controversial concern. The problem in existence is that while most of the students in the colleges and campuses are aware of the violence within their environment, their experiences, perceptions and attitudes remain to be unknown. Due to the insufficiency of knowledge, the experiences of the students in these institutions are affected. As a result of this, the management of the colleges is left with no ground that would have otherwise helped in structuring appropriate responses to the issue. However, it is important to realize that at the moment some of the states are trying to review legislative laws established to expand hand gun laws. In October 2014, the United states Department of Justice in conjunction with other relevant bodies launched specific programs established that launched among the young people where they were expected to make a voluntary pledge claiming that they will not carry their guns to their respective campuses and colleges. (“USAO-EDLA | Department of Justice”)

In the year 2011, twenty three state legislatures took up a bill that allowed people to carry fire arms and this include guns, to institutions of higher learning where a number of the colleges administered by the government in about six states permitted gun on the compounds of these learning institutions. The possession of guns in the campus and college environment will continue to evoke heated debates. There are those people who are into the idea that guns are important for personal protection and there are also others who emphasize that guns are the source of violence and mayhem in the society today. Most of the laws put in place to counter act the act are faced with criticism, with the purpose of the law viewed as the source of liberty, justice and life.

In the previous two decades, the probability of allowing guns in campuses and colleges would sound to be satirical. Interestingly by the year 2002, people could carry their guns to about one of the university campuses, and by the year 2009 the number of guns raised to about twelve. As time progressed, most of the campuses and colleges allowed people in the six states.The concern on whether guns should be permitted in campuses and colleges in the country gives a reflection of a tense moment between two conflicting view points. The United Statesexhibit a culture that beholds a vigorous interest in guns and equivalently also holds a gun control system. The systems of gun control dates back to America’s history since the systems began even before the nation was founded and that culture proceed to the contemporary America. It is observed that a number of glamorous occasions such as the gun fight in OK Coral, an event that was initiated in the year 1881at a time where the holiday of Doc and Earps made a tremendous attempt to forcibly make the McLaurys and the Clantons to conform to a Tombstone municipal ordinance that sought to ban the act of carrying guns while in the town.

As already noted, the concern on whether guns should be permitted in campuses and colleges is currently a topic that has evoked extraneous controversies and debates. The arguments have been inspired by news from various sources that narrated of cases where students have been linked to murder in the institution premises. In April the year 2007, for example, a student in possession of a gun was responsible for the murder of thirty-three people in Virginia tech campus in a rampage that posed to be one of the deadliest in the history of America.(“New York Times”). Most of those affected by the ordeal were students who were shot while in the classrooms and other in the dormitories. This forms one of the many cases that prompt claims that violence against students in the colleges has been intensifying and has threatened to be a chronic social problem that calls for the government intervention. According to Student for Gun Free School report, colleges and universities in America are turning out to be insecure places to both the students and the faculty. While addressing these concerns, two policies, though in conflict, have been established. One of the policies narrates that the violence in the campuses will be prevented more effectively by engaging a larger number of the armed personnel within the compound of the various campuses, let us call this argument, ‘more armed personnel’ The other position narrates that cases of violence in the campuses will be managed more effectively if the guns are completely banned on the premises of the campuses, let us call this argument, ‘banning the guns’

Generally, this paper will seek to give the arguments that reinforce the two narratives. Later on investigation of the current status from the higher education institution view point and eventually come forth with a basis of the policies devised by the university regarding guns and how the government impact on the gun in school concern will be carried out. In the end, a comparison of the existing data will be made concerning violent activities in the community and generally to assess whether there is really a problem in institutions of higher learning that calls for instant action, suggestions will also be made on the reason why the controversy is not about to end even though there is no data that can be used to sustain the arguments on both sides of the argument.

An assessment into the policies of the two arguments, ‘more armed personnel’ and ‘banning the guns’ vary from one point to the other by assuring us at one point that people should not be so much afraid of people with licenses of owning the guns, to other cases where they caution us that permits or licenses given to guns will lead to a higher risk and dangers of violent activities, the theft of guns, suicide and unintentional shootings. The image of the future brought forth is completely different. The advocates on gun rights argue on the premise that loosening the restrictions placed on guns would increase the security of not individuals but also the fraternity at large. On the contrary, most of the manger in the institutions of higher learning, personnel in the law enforcement entities and the students themselves claim that by permitting students to carry guns to schools will increase the intensity of the risk for both the students and the institutions, will not be in a position to prevent attacks in the future and may result to disorganization in emergency cases. The ‘more armed personnel’ argument is founded on the premise that self defense is a natural occurring right that is enshrined in the constitution. This premise further argues that this right and entitlement should not be impaired with a mere reason that an individual is a student. The students in the faculty and colleges should carry the guns since they need them for self defense and more specifically since history narrates that the systems in the colleges cannot protect them from various attackers. The probability of a criminal launching a violent crime is minimized since they believe that the targeted people might also be armed. The argument is more applicable to the college campuses since they offer an open context that entail virtual limits with negligible or no safe counter-active strategies.

The ‘banning the guns’ argument reject the idea of allowing the guns in the premises of colleges and campuses. The population of the proponents of this argument is larger in size; however, their political influence is negligible. Those subscribing to this argument include law enforcement groups, law enforcement personnel, campus police chiefs and many more other groups. This argument is based on the premise of academic autonomy and academic freedom. In the concern of academic freedom, it is claimed that the universities and colleges harbor a learning sanctuary that is secure and the presence of hidden guns would endanger such an environment. A further argument asserts that with the concealed guns in the learning environment, the attention of the students will shift to that of fear. By permitting the student to carry their guns to the campuses and colleges will entrench a sense of fear among the students since they would not be aware whether one of the students may rise and shoot them. Academic autonomy illustrates that the institutions should be obligated to determine the policies that would most effectively address not only learning but also security in campus. Permitting students to carry guns to school, contrary to the guidelines of the trustees of the campuses, would render the security of the campus to a group of people who are not trained and do not have legal obligations for the system.(Birnbaun 2012)

The ‘burning the guns’ arguments also stipulate that when the guns are made available a higher risk would be established for the students. This is because the campuses would be turned in to ‘army camps’ and zones that are saturated with guns. Ensuring that the guns are limited to those in possession of permits would not solve the entire situation since they are usually not the most law abiding citizen. In addition to this, those in possession of permits are required to train on issues related tolaw enforcement issues. It is evident that even the trained law enforcement officers should attain a specific target in the accuracy of shooting and therefore the question that emerges is, ‘Why should people without the requisite knowledge in handling weapons should be in possession of guns?’ The accuracy in hitting the specific target especially in panic situation would definitely be in doubt. In other critical concern, it is realized that some of the guns are stolen. The rate of threats pose to be more intense in the environments that are not totally structured in the halls of residence in the college campuses. On another hand it is realized that having the guns in campuses in the possession of the students or an entity that lacks training in dealing with catastrophic situations would step an already explosive condition. When the law enforcement officers arrive at such a scene, there would be some kind of confusion in the sense that, they would not be in a position to identify the target and the victims. Basically, allowing people to be in possession of guns in the various campuses would not be a preventive mechanism to the shooting observed in the campuses since the psychologically unstable perpetuating such action are not capable of engaging in rational thinking and the implication of what they do.

Whether the two arguments seek to improve the security of the people is still being debated. A study carried out in 2001 by the United States Department of education discovered that the ‘general rates of homicides in the institutions of post-secondary education was approximately 0.07 in every one hundred thousand admission in the year 1999. Making the comparison, it is demonstrated that the rate of criminal homicide attained a figure of 5.7 in every one hundred thousand individuals generally in the year 1999, where it also hit a mark of 14.1 in every one hundred thousand in individuals between the age of seventeen and nineteen. Another study carried out by the department of justice which discovered that ninety three percent of the criminal activities that subject the victims to victimization emanated from outside the campus environment. The study demonstrated that the students in the campuses in the institutions of post-secondary education are more secure as compared to their fellow off-campus mates and the entire country at large.

In another study carried out by Presley and his associates in 1997-a study that sought to assess how prevalent weapons were among twenty six thousand, two hundred and twenty five students in sixty one campuses discovered that at that moment when the survey was being conducted, 11.1 or a percentage of forty three of the students were in possession of a weapon which was either a gun, knife, and other weapons of the sort in the preceding thirty days. Other studies demonstrated that students in possessions of guns are mostly likely to become subjects of both sexual and physical attacks in the compounds of the college campuses than those in possession of the weapons. In other studies that sought to make an analysis of data that was obtain from a random national sample that involved ten thousand two hundred and eighty eight of students covering one hundred and nineteen campus colleges, about 4.3 percent of the total number of the students explained that they were in possession of a functional weapon while in college whereby in the same case, 1.6 percent at one time have been threatened at school with a gun. A number of the conclusions made from these studies demonstrated that the students in possession of guns while in school were more concentrated in colleges found in the southern regions than the rest of the areas. It was also realized that the white students are more in possession of guns compared to the other races.(Seo, et al. 2011)

In conclusion, it is evident that the results obtained from the study are largely linked to strict guidelines that sought to restrict guns from the various campuses in the nation. The universities and colleges in the United States are secure havens where learning processes occur, and this safety will be threatened by the presence of concealed guns in the midst of the student population.