At college, things work a little differently. The same NRA arguments regurgitated ad nauseam out there are subjected to logic and reason here. At college, where alcohol and pavement prove to be a dangerous combination, guns are a terrible idea. Ignoring the obvious spike in accidental shootings that will inevitably occur, proponents of concealed carry of firearms on campus claim they have the solution to criminal activity. They may be fighting fire with fire, but they’re using a flame thrower to put out a matchstick.
Sadly, a firearm does not cease to be dangerous simply because it is wielded by someone with good intentions, just as a car is not accident-proof because it is operated by a careful driver. Soldiers are well-trained; soldiers make mistakes. Police officers are well-trained; police officers misjudge. Joe Vanderbilt has maybe elected to go through eight hours of safety training before strapping on his handgun; Joe Vanderbilt puts all of our lives in danger.
Don’t get me wrong, firearms can be great things to have in, say, a war zone or on the frontier. There are certain places, however, where the threat of being violently attacked is so low that carrying a concealed weapon actually increases the risk of being shot. One such place is the U.S. The Department of Education counts nearly 18,000 students currently enrolled in college. A total of four college students have died in shooting sprees this academic year.
As for other criminals, pulling a gun on a mugger just about guarantees a violent outcome and is rarely a good option. It is entirely plausible that criminals are less likely to attack people who may have guns. Yet statistics show that while one out of every 54 males has a concealed carry permit, only one in over 300 females has a permit. This means that with concealed carry, criminals are simply more likely to target female victims than they otherwise would.
Three years ago, an argument in Morgan led two visitors with handguns to open fire on students. Fortunately, there were only minor injuries and the shooters were soon apprehended. Thank goodness there were no panicked, trigger-happy cowboys there to shoot back and start a fire fight in a residence hall. When handling a firearm under duress, a student must be able to think intelligently and responsibly … which, judging by recent Hustler opinion pieces, does not bode well for having guns on campus.
—Sean Tierney is a senior in the College of Arts and Science. He can be reached at sean.f.tierney@vanderbilt.edu.
