By: Tracy Han

A 911 call reached the police department at 7:15 AM, April 16, 2007. Police were notified that there were at least two shooting victims at one of the dormitories at Virginia Tech University. A second round of shootings occurred in classrooms at 9:45 AM. At least 32 students and faculty were killed. All classes were canceled soon after. The shooter was 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Tech. That day, Cho killed 32 people before taking his own life. As the second deadliest shooting rampage in US history, Virginia Tech shootings shocked the Americans. As the result, by 2013, at least 19 states introduced legislation to allow concealed carry on campus for students to defend themselves. These decisions raised awareness and aroused public argument about permitting firearms on campuses.

State legislation on campus gun carry (2016)

Should concealed guns be allowed in schools? All 50 states have responded to this legal question. According to data from National Conference of State Legislatures, to May 5, 2017, 16 states have prohibited concealed weapon on college campuses. In other 23 states the decision whether to ban or to allow concealed carry weapons has been left to individual schools or institutions. 10 states now permit the carrying of concealed weapons on campuses, and Utah remains the only state to statute based on the type of facility (public entities or not).

Americans hold opposite opinions on these rulings. Gun advocates call for more states to permit firearms on campuses. They claim firearms can stop potential shootings. However, people who support prohibition of guns on campus cite research to show the opposite.

Can firearms on campus actually prevent crime from happening? First of all, the report “Firearms on College Campuses: Research Evidence and Policy Implications” from Johns Hopkins University found that neither gun-free zones nor right-to-carry gun laws appear to affect mass shootings in public spaces. In other words, there is little proof that banning guns actually prevent shootings. In addition, according to an FBI report about 160 active shootings from 2000 to 2013, only one incident was stopped by a concealed carry permit holder. However, 21 active shooters were stopped by unarmed citizens in the same time period. Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey also indicate that self-defense gun use is not uniquely beneficial comparing to other protective actions. It is evident that carrying guns cannot prevent crime.

So, can allowing concealed weapons on campus actually make us safer? Research findings support the opposite. The Johns Hopkins’ report shows that fights, suicide attempts, and reckless behavior frequently become more lethal with a firearm. Moreover, according to an article in Behavioral Sciences & the Law, there is a link between impulsive angry behavior and gun carry, which leads to a high risk of arguments turning lethal.

Last but not least, an independent study of 77 gun carriers, commissioned by the National Gun Victims Action Council, shows that most if not all of them were unable to defend themselves, and may even cause extra risk. In the first two hypothetically scenarios, most of the gun carriers would have been “killed,” regardless of their training level, while intervening in a crime. In the last scenario, an unarmed suspect was “killed” by many overzealous carriers. In conclusion, trained civilians in all hypothetically scenarios were unable to make correct judgement in self-defense and may have caused unnecessary deaths.

If, after reading this evidence, you are interested in learning more about guns on campus and which states (e.g. where you are or intend to go to college) allow or ban guns in colleges , you can check out more information here:

http://www.ncsl.org/research/education/guns-on-campus-overview.aspx

and

https://www.thetrace.org/2015/11/campus-carry-self-defense-accidental-shootings-research/