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Should We Carry A Firearm On Campus Of Concealed Carry Laws?

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In the US today there are 3 different standard procedures for issuing a concealed carry license in the US, “Shall-Issue”, “May-Issue”, and no permit required. Which one of these policies would be most effective on college campuses? I do not think any of these policies alone will work the best, I feel a combination of them in needed. It is important to ensure that no one is allowed to carry a firearm on campuses if they are using it to sell drugs or commit other crimes, but it is also important to allow students to protect them selves without having too go through to much “red-tape” to receive their license. The biggest failing of today’s concealed carry system on college campuses in the US is the fact that there is not a nationally …show more content…

Most college campuses are “open”, meaning that practically anyone can walk on to them and many buildings do not have metal detectors or security guards (Renneker 1). She cites the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy where the shooter was not even a student at the college, he simply walked on campus undetected and shot and killed 33 people before killing himself (Renneker 4). It is not difficult for one to enter a college campus and cause harm with a firearm if they intend to do so, anyone who has been on a public American college or university campus has seen non-students passing through at some point. She also cites the Department of Homeland Security’s study of response time for school shootings, “The average duration of an active shooter situation at a school is 12.5 minutes; while average police response time is 10 minutes“ (Renneker 4). Renneker makes a valid point in demonstrating that school shootings are very hard to prevent, and that the average police response time is not fast enough to effectively stop them. Not only can concealed carry help prevent and stop mass shootings on campuses before the police arrive; it can also help lower the crime rate. Renneker demonstrates that not allowing concealed carry on campus leads to a higher crime rate on campus by citing the following, much in line with Fortunato’s findings on concealed carry across the nation. In 2013 Boise State

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