The state of Texas added guns to their list of acceptable campus items, making it legal for licensed gun owners to bring concealed handguns onto campus at any four-year public institution.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the law, known to most as “campus-carry,” last summer with an effective date beginning August 2016. Campus Carry is now legal in eight states and momentum for this brand of law continues to grow throughout the United States.
Campus Carry only perpetuates the ongoing gun violence culture occurring in the country today and must be repealed to maintain the safety of open thought and the physical being of students and staff on Texas public university campuses.
According to Dr. Jennifer Glass, Barbara Bush Regents Professor of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas (UT) and member of a lawsuit to stop campus carry at UT, “the concealed carry of guns into a classroom environment inhibits the free speech of students when discussing controversial topics, and inhibits the ability of teaching assistants and faculty to fairly and accurately evaluate students without concern for their personal safety.”
These controversial topics, including but not limited to sexuality, race and abortion, cannot be truthfully discussed if there is a gun in the classroom. Students and faculty alike may feel unable to voice their true opinion on any matters with a possible threat present. In a poll conducted by The Texas Tribune and the University of Texas, 37 percent of respondents agreed with Glass’ position, stating concealed handguns on public college campuses in Texas should be prohibited.
Opposition to campus-carry is not equivalent to opposing the 2nd Amendment or a desire to take the rights of legal gun owners away. College should be a safe place to examine issues from all sides, including those different from your own, and a place to express and discuss those different views with your peers. Sometimes views may be re-affirmed, and other times views may change as a result of these discussions.
As a student, Madison Ruta, a senior at Texas A&M University, told me that she would “find it hard to express how [she] feels on an issue if someone had a gun in the same classroom” as her. In an environment of guns, voices may be silenced by fear of intimidation or retribution. Is open carry worth the price of infringing on someone’s First Amendment rights?
Many argue the presence of guns on college campuses would prevent mass shooting incidences like that at Virginia Tech in April 2007.
However, in a recent FBI study outlining 160 active shooting events from 2000-2013, a person with a concealed weapons permit stopped only one of those events. This person, a Marine, possessed technical weapons training. In many instances, private citizens with guns attempting to stop an active shooter were killed or injured, or in some instances, shot the wrong person. On the other hand, unarmed individuals stopped 21 of these active shooter events. As well, the presence of concealed handguns on campus may lead to an increase in accidental shootings and self-inflicted injuries.
In an NPR radio interview, William McRaven, the retired Admiral (credited with overseeing the raid that killed Osama bin Laden) and current Chancellor of the University of Texas System, voiced his concerns with Campus Carry saying, “any time you introduce guns into an environment that has high stress… we have concerns about self-inflicted gun wounds and accidental discharges.” Having guns on college campuses does not make our institutions of higher learning safer; all signs indicate it does the exact opposite.
Campus-carry challenges the traditional college culture of open expression promoting intellectual growth. Some of that discussion and personal development may lead to a better understanding of both sides of the campus carry issue. Isn’t that open and frank discussion worth having in an environment free of guns?