The Right to Bear Arms...in school.

Anna Smoak

On April 16, 2007 the use of guns on college campuses became a big issue after a Virginia Tech student shot 32 of his classmates dead, wounding many more. The question then arose whether or not allowing students to have guns on campus makes them safer from horrible tragedies such as this one. While some people argue that passing laws that support the right for students to bear arms on campus would increase the safety of students, they fail to take into account how unsafe guns are in untrained hands. Specifically, in the hands of students that are not of sound state of mind to the high rates of stress and alcohol found on college campuses these days.

Utah is currently the only state where it is illegal for schools to prohibit students from carrying weapons on campus. 23 States leave it up to the school to decide about student gun possession, and the in the remaining 26 states it is against the law to have guns on campus.

Guns are unsafe in untrained and mentally unstable hands, and as a college student, I don't trust most of my peers to have the maturity level and responsibility to safely handle a gun. As Missouri Legislator Chris Kelly says, "College boys love things that go boom, and there is a direct and geometric relationship between the amount of beer they’ve had and the amount they like boom. You give them a six pack and boom gets really attractive; that’s a problem."

In other words, kids that aren't legally allowed to consume alcohol or rent a car should not be allowed to "play" with firearms. While there is some chance that school shooting might end differently if the shooter just so happens to wander across a kid that also has a gun. The chances of that are slim compared to the likelihood of accidents happening because of kids being kids. Only people who have shown they are responsible and mentally sound have the right to bear arms.