Limited Carrying of Firearms in Schools Should be Allowed
CON (4 arguments)
Grabbers:
“I wouldn’t send my children to a campus that allowed guns in a classroom. What kind of idiocy is this?” - anonymous mother. She echoes 70% of the population, according to New York Times.
"Putting more guns on campus to prevent violence on campus makes no sense."
State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, who voted against the bill.
Counter-plan:
Other alternatives superior to firearms on campus in reducing crime include metal detectors. Metal detectors – installed in college campuses in California, Oregon, Washington, and many others- have been extremely successful. According to statistics by the US Department of Security, metal detectors offer a 115% more of preventing violent encounters than most other security measures.
Another alternative is a higher funded campus police unit. In Washington D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, and others, colleges have paid for better-equipped campus police, which according to the Violence Policy Center has reduced violent crimes and incursions by 85%.
In 2012, 337 universities and colleges signed a resolution to NOT allow concealed guns in 2012. To quote the college board president Shirley M. Tilghman of Princeton; “I signed this resolution opposing guns on campus because of the risk and reward factor. We are essentially risking the safety of college students... for the rewards that we already have today.”
There is no credible statistical evidence demonstrating that laws allowing the carrying of concealed firearms reduce crime. In fact, the evidence suggests that permissive concealed carry laws generally will increase crime. In Texas, murder rates increased by 25% literally months after the campus carry bill was enacted (Violence Policy Center)
Public health researcher David Hemingway, reviewing significant research on the use of firearms in self-defense, also concludes that “gun use in self-defense is rare, and it appears that using a gun in self-defense is no more likely to reduce the chance of being injured during a crime than various other forms of protective action,” and notes that no “evidence seems to exist that gun use in self-defense reduces the risk of death.”
Approximately 93% of college students who were victims of violent crime were victimized off campus, rather than on campus. Firearms were used in only 9% of all violent crimes against college students over this period.
US Department of Justice
The Negation side is concerned that concealed carry laws have the potential to dramatically increase violence on college and university campuses that our Members are empowered to protect. Among the concerns with concealed carry laws or policies are: the potential for accidental discharge or misuse of firearms at on-campus or off-campus parties where large numbers of students are gathered. There is also a real concern that campus police officers responding to a situation involving an active shooter may not be able to distinguish between the shooter and others with firearms.
For example, according to an article published in 2008 in the Washington post, an armed thief broke into the house of an ex-marine. Having training and a gun at home, the marine signaled the police and put up a gun fight with the robber. The marine soon disarmed the thief, and tried to retain the punching thief, while he, as the trained marine, still held his gun. When the police arrived, they sprang into action and shot the marine, thinking he was the armed robber, even though he was just protecting himself.