Hunter Fullhart
Photography & Social Media Editor
Starting Saturday July 1, people 21 and over will be allowed to conceal carry on Kansas college campuses. There are many positives to allowing students to conceal carry handguns on college campuses, and personally, I agree with the positives of this argument.
According to CNN, there have been 196 school shootings to occur in the United States alone. I don’t think someone would be confident going into a classroom and shooting people when he or she knows that someone may be carrying a concealed weapon. It would be very unsettling knowing that he/she may be challenged in getting the intended job done.
The self-defense state of mind is another important component to allowing concealed carry on campus. Having a safety net strapped onto your belt or strapped around your leg would give you peace of mind knowing that you can take care of yourself in the event of a catastrophe. You could also defend others if other lives are in danger.
According to a survey conducted and published in an article by the National Rifle Association-Institution for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), 200 people participated and were asked if they would feel safe with concealed carry being allowed on campus. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed said they would feel safer knowing that they, or someone around them would have them, covered in the of an active killer.
“We know that campus carry doesn’t lead to problems, because permit holders have proven time and again, in state after state, to be even more law-abiding than the citizenry at large,” the NRA-ILA stated. People go through extensive background checks before they can even obtain a conceal carry permit, buying a gun or ammunition. Kansas does not require its citizens to have a license to allow someone to conceal carry, but they do require that everyone undergo background checks whenever they go to buy firearms anywhere in the state. This makes sense because you wouldn’t want a felon in possession of a deadly weapon.
Concealed guns on campus will be a good thing. It’ll help faculty and students feel more safe about their environment knowing that either them or someone else has their back. It’s all about having that safety net in the case of a tragedy and also, instead of feeling like you are being controlled by the killer, you can have more control over the situation if you have something to retaliate against him/her.