Campus Carry Summary

In the article, “Campus carry is problematic, but not dangerous”, Mac McCann discusses the issue of campus carry, specifically on the University of Texas at Austin campus. He opens by making it clear as an alum of UT he does not approve of Texas SB 11. This change allows concealed handguns in the buildings of public universities and, overall, the UT community has not welcomed it. McCann supports his position against the campus carry policy by providing anecdotes from professors tied to UT. One of the first examples was from Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at UT prior to campus carry, that pointed out that this new law has made it so that an unhappy student could, more easily, cause violence in the classroom and threaten everyone’s safety. Furthermore, Siva Vaidhyanathan, a former candidate for a dean position, explained that classrooms are places of discussion and the introduction of a weapon could make those participating hold back out of fear. Although McCann’s position is

against campus, he points out that most students on the campus are not even eligible to carry a handgun and research has shown that there has not been an impact on the social or academic life of the campus.
McCann is clear about his position and states it explicitly.

He mostly uses quotations from professors to support his claim that campus carry is an issue. The article does contain a good amount of relevant support for his argument as it is all from professors connected to UT, but not good support as the research shows that the campus environment will most likely not be affected. However, he does make it clear that campus carry has already effect UT’s academics and that campus carry creates a fear of violence in a place meant to foster thought, which is two important points. As a whole, McCann is able to show that, although research may show that there is not much effect on campus life due to campus carry, the fear it creates is undeniable. The target audience of such an article is students of public universities and, more likely, their parents, who are concerned about the effects of this new law on their children’s college experience and want reassurance about their child’s

safety.
As a first year UT student, this new law was concerning to me. I found it uncomfortable to think that someone next to me in class could have a weapon on them and therefore, I do agree with McCann that campus carry is problematic, but I disagree that it is not dangerous. I understand that there are many places that we go every day where people can be armed, however, a place of academics is threatened by this kind of law, especially when students and faculty do not feel comfortable enough to challenge each other and discuss positions out of fear of retaliation. Furthermore, the UT campus is no stranger to violence and has had two murders occur on campus in the span of two years, one of which occurred while I was there. The kind of fear caused by something like that is not easy to forget and I believe that, although a law like this could have prevented these events, it is more likely to foster them. Therefore, I agree that this law causes fear of violence and limits the freedom of the classroom, but I disagree that it is not dangerous.