The concern for the safety of your child in a college campus or university will most likely be your number one priority. In the case that you do not have a child and you are that person in the university, you might always want to watch your back. According to a “statistical analysis of more than three decades of data, in 2011 the United States entered a new period in which mass shootings are occurring more frequently. ” (Cohen)
Now off course, the research that has been done by Cohen includes mass shootings from ages varying from six to twenty-one years ld although another article by the “EverytownResearch. rg” website reveals how out of all of the school mass shootings in the United States, the majority of the mass shooting incidents that have happened in different colleges or universities. Because younger Ed campuses like elementary, middle and high schools are particularly small in comparison to the majority of all college campuses and universities, it is easier for security guards including school police to be in most places or get to a dangerous situation faster than in a higher Ed campus.
A niversity providing an education for 40,000 students has no way of controlling who comes in and out of the school like many high schools and elementary schools do. Most campuses are in fact public which means anyone could be in or out most buildings without anybody actually knowing if they are enrolled in the school or not. What does this all mean? It means that no matter who you are with or what part of the campus you are on, the chances of a tragedy happening in a university are extremely larger as compared to those in a smaller, much more controlled environment in a younger Ed school.
Besides, once graduating from high school and turning eighteen, you are basically an adult which means that there is no once that is going to take care of you better than you will yourself. Which is one more reason that for one’s own particular assurance of their security, university students should have the right to convey a concealed weapon with a valid license. August 1, 1966, “Charles Whitman takes a stockpile of guns and ammunition to the observatory platform atop a 300-foot tower at the University of Texas (at Austin) and proceeds to shoot 46 people, killing 14 eople and wounding 31. ” (An ex-Marine.. ).
It was a situation that was unseen which made it impossible to prevent. “The UT Tower Shooting” article states, “Whitman introduced the nation to the idea of mass murder in a public space. ” Before going off and killing these people at the university, “Whitman killed his mother, Margaret Whitman, and his wife, Kathleen Leissner Whitman, between midnight and 3:00 a. m. ” (Helmer). As a result of this, Whitman wrote a letter and left it next to her dead mother explaining why he had done what he did which was to elieve her sufferings, although it did not provide an explanation for the mass shooting of the other 46 people.
Charles Joseph Whitman was the eldest of three brothers in a family of 6 including himself. “The Whitman family had a long history of dysfunctionality. ” (Blanco). After the deadly tragedy at the University of Texas at Austin, an autopsy was done on the Whitman’s body to try and better understand what could have triggered him to be the cause of such incident. During the autopsy, it was discovered that in two sections of his brain, there was a small brain tumor. Autopsy Report. ).
After John Connally, Texas Governor at the time, “commissioned a task force to examine the autopsy findings and material related to Whitman’s actions and motives”, (Autopsy Report… ) it was determined that the brain tumor “conceivably could have contributed to his inability to control his emotions and actions. ” (Autopsy Report.. ) Since the horrific incident, students and staff including professors from The University of Texas at Austin have been fighting for their rights to carry their personal protection with them. Wofford quotes a UT professor as saying, I just hope that someday the legislature allows guns to be carried… (Students for.. ).
Another student, Lewis, quotes “why am I allowed to carry at a local movie theater, but not the campus theater? ” (Students for….. ). As to the second amendment that was put in place by our founding fathers, it is clear that as a god given right, we are entitled to “keep and bear arms” (Strasser) without the right being infringed. What this basically means is that those students and professors from universities protesting for their rights to carry an arm for their rotection should have the right to carry their weapon anywhere they go although gun control laws that are in place now do not allow for this to happen.
There are some institutions and including most universities that do not allow for these people to keep that right. In the attempt to help fix some of that unfairness, government official Greg Abbott signed in the summer of 2015 Senate Bill 11 which “allows individuals with a concealed handgun license to carry a handgun while on Texas public university campuses as long as the weapon is not visible. ” (Campus Carry). As of August 1, 2016, the law in place took effect.
Although this is not the solutions to the ban of concealed weapons in every country, it is a solution for the state of Texas. In that same day, August 1 of 2016, working for the government, Texas attorney General Ken Paxton sued the city for their new attempt for banning guns again. (NRA). Paxton is one of the few who understands how important one’s life is including the children of their own. We cannot let anybody be making decisions for us. There should be no law telling us how to live our lives or in this case, telling us how we should protect urselves or in the other hand, who will.
For those people who think that the cops will get there to protect them, they are not wrong. They will get there, that is why we have them but it does not always mean they are on every corner. It would be impossible to have so many. If you are lucky enough to have one close by, you might be safe depending on the situation but the most important thing to understand is that nobody knows you better than you do yourself. Nobody is going to take better care of you other than you will yourself. Act now that you can before it is too late.
