Austin Community College is soon to
usher in the new campus carry policy, so to create a smooth transition, a “campus
carry task force” committee was formed. The Committee has hosted three forums
to educate the community. The concerns that many have expressed at these forms
by faculty, teachers, and students alike are concerns based on fear, false
facts, and narratives put out by Anti-gun advocates. http://Kxan.com/2017/04/28/acc-closer-to-refining-its-plan-for-campus-carry-law-in-august/
https://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2017/04/29/austin-community-college-prepares-to-implement-campus-carry.html
A concern vocalized multiple times was the idea that people are going to start shooting or brandishing a weapon over grades or controversial topics in a class room. This is not realistic because there is no evidence to suggest that this is a probable scenario. Evidence does suggest however, the more likely scenario where a crazed person comes into a gun free zone, which are magnets for people who want to commit mass murder. A person hell bent on causing maximum harm to others knows that they will have a window of time before anyone with a gun gets there. That is one primary reason why the data and statistics show gun free zones are more dangerous. Point in case, Columbine high school where 13 were killed, University of Texas 18 killed, Virginia tech 32 killed, Sandy hook elementary school 27 killed; all gun free zones, and the list goes on. Here is the reality: concealed carry holders are statistically the most law abiding group in the country. Texas as of 2016 had over 1 million licensed to carry holders. Concealed carry holders will make our campus safer, not less. When law abiding people have guns criminals are less empowered. I believe the new concealed carry laws give people a fighting chance to defend life, and disincentivises would be armed assailants; and the evidence and data backs up my belief. For instance, the 2013 CDC report commissioned by the anti-gun Obama administration and National Research Institute reluctantly concluded that the statistics and data unquestionably show that "the presence of a fire arm and concealed carry deters crime". There are 500,000 to 3.3 million cases of defensive gun use annually which is far greater then criminal usage.
A concern vocalized multiple times was the idea that people are going to start shooting or brandishing a weapon over grades or controversial topics in a class room. This is not realistic because there is no evidence to suggest that this is a probable scenario. Evidence does suggest however, the more likely scenario where a crazed person comes into a gun free zone, which are magnets for people who want to commit mass murder. A person hell bent on causing maximum harm to others knows that they will have a window of time before anyone with a gun gets there. That is one primary reason why the data and statistics show gun free zones are more dangerous. Point in case, Columbine high school where 13 were killed, University of Texas 18 killed, Virginia tech 32 killed, Sandy hook elementary school 27 killed; all gun free zones, and the list goes on. Here is the reality: concealed carry holders are statistically the most law abiding group in the country. Texas as of 2016 had over 1 million licensed to carry holders. Concealed carry holders will make our campus safer, not less. When law abiding people have guns criminals are less empowered. I believe the new concealed carry laws give people a fighting chance to defend life, and disincentivises would be armed assailants; and the evidence and data backs up my belief. For instance, the 2013 CDC report commissioned by the anti-gun Obama administration and National Research Institute reluctantly concluded that the statistics and data unquestionably show that "the presence of a fire arm and concealed carry deters crime". There are 500,000 to 3.3 million cases of defensive gun use annually which is far greater then criminal usage.
The Campus Carry Task Force board members should help with the transition in implementing this new law by helping educate our teachers and faculty members on the facts, data, and statistics to help alleviate their irrational and misguided fears. The implementation and education of laws and policy should always be constructed on facts and not on emotion.
1 comment:
Campus Carry law has been a very controversial issue for a while now and both sides have great arguments on why it should or shouldn't be a thing. Ms. Arber is a very intelligent woman with who explains to us why having a concealed carry law could save our lives. On the other hand, a lot o people argue that this would create a more unsafe environment for student who already have enough stress. This is really not the case since there has been shown that the presence of handguns is able to reduce the will of people to commit crimes. In the resent UT stabbing attack, people with guns were present but by the time they draw the attacker had already fled plus some people argue that if he had taken a shot he could've injured someone else with a missing bullet. This are great arguments although other witnesses say that the perpetrator fled the scene when he saw that someone had a gun and that is why he wasn't able to take the shot. What is the real story behind it? It’s kind of foggy as of today but one thing is for sure, people with guns can take down someone who has gone out of their senses and starts shooting everyone. One more thing that I want to add is that it could be harder to know who is planning a school shooting if everyone has a gun but ultimately we have proven ourselves incapable of preventing this from happening time and time again. I encourage everyone to read Ms. Arber's blog since she has a lot of very interesting points of view and even though we may disagree on some matters she's still very good at giving many well established arguments with a strong basis.
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