Should Students Be Allowed To Carry Guns In Schools Essay

College is an important stepping stone for millions of students around the world. The last thing these students want to think about is watching their backs as they walk to class. Parents should not have to worry about the safety of their children away at college. However, schools are turning into one-sided war zones. No student is allowed to carry a firearm on a university campus, yet young adults are being gunned down left and right.

We as a society can at least even the playing field. I am for giving students the right to carry firearms on campuses in an effort to even the odds, help students feel safer, and train them for emergency situations. The news is constantly filled with headlines about college campuses turned into war zones, but

this is a one-sided war .Students are being shot at but have no way to defend themselves. Campus police can only clean up the aftermath, but if students had their own weapons and proper training, there would be nothing besides criminals to clean up.
Carrying a firearm should not be a requirement—weapon ownership would be at the student's own consent. If a small lpercentage of students had a firearm readily available at certain events or even just walking around campus, many dangerous situations could be resolved. With the proper training, students could save the lives of their classmates. However, giving these young students firearms could pose problems, such as the danger of them using their weapons at the wrong time and abusing their power. To stop this from happening, each student should go through intensive training every month, in addition to a detailed background check. Only a limited percentage of students should be allowed to have weapons; this ratio would depend on the size of the university and where the dorms are located on campus. Students would take on this task of their own free will. This responsibility would naturally come with dangers; however, saving the lives of others is worth the risk.
When looking for a college to attend, students consider many factors—size, reputation, graduation rate, and safety, to name a few.

Safety is key in choosing a school, because students need to know if they can walk the campus without feeling threatened. As a college student myself, the ability to leave my dorm and know that my things will still be there when I get back is important. Knowing that I can walk my campus any time of day or night without feeling unsafe is reassuring. Imagine if an active shooter appeared on a campus and killed several students because they were defenseless, waiting for campus police to show up. By the time the police arrive, I twould be too late. However, if a student had a firearm, the shooter would have been taken down before he or she could pull the trigger. The worst that might happen is one severe injury. I prefer no harm done to students, but if a single injury occurs and no students are killed, I choose that option over the multiple deaths caused by a slow response time.

Unfortunately, not every situation will end the way we want it to. Society relies on percentages to weigh the pros and cons of anything. If the percentage of student deaths related to school shootings decreases, then thats all that matters. Nothing can be perfect—that is just the way life works. No one can heal all the cruel-minded criminals in this world, but we can put a bandage on the issue. A college parent should not have to bury a child, nor does a university have to mourn the loss of a fellow

classmate.
Students go through drills on a monthly basis—mostly fire drills and emergency communication testing. But when it comes to an active shooter on campus, what do you do? What kind of drills do schools have for that, other than telling students to hide in their rooms? All schools have a procedure, but many students do not know it or care enough to learn. This is where a student with emergency training can be useful. If a few students know what to do, they can tell others. Numerous deaths could be prevented, all because one student told a group to hide here or run there. Once you give a student a firearm, he or she can neutralize the situation before anything happens. No ordinary person will have a calm mind during an event like a shooting; however, once a person has been trained to deal with such events, he or she will know exactly what to do.
Yes, training students who may or may not care could be costly to a university, but out of that group, leaders will rise. These leaders will turn into the life-savers. The masses do not need to listen—it only takes a few to save many. This is what we believe in when it comes to law enforcement. The cost is something that can be worked out to save lives. The safety of all students matters. We can keep pushing this issue off, but it will only continue to occur. It is the right of every person to bear arms, yet we are abolishing this amendment. We are letting students be killed day after day because our society will not let them protect themselves. I say yes to giving students the right to carry firearms on campus! It would limit criminal activities while showing the trust that can be given to an individual. In the event that something does occur, the hope would be that at least one person can gain control of the situation or at least hold it together while authorities are on the way. The sooner we implement this law, the less the news will have to talk about. We can save the great minds of tomorrow. It only takes a few to save many.