Concealed Weapons on College Campuses
Joshua Grey
GOVT
2 October 2012
To Conceal or Not to Conceal On October 22, 2007 Amanda Collins was walking back to her car after a late night midterm at the University of Nevada, Reno. You would think that having a second degree black belt in tae kwon do would give you the idea that you could handle yourself in a difficult situation. Unless that difficult situation happens to be a six foot man with a gun pointed at your head. Amanda Collins was raped that night and there was no way she could defend herself even with a black belt in tae kwon do. How could something like this have been prevented? Amanda had acquired a concealed carry permit for her gun, but the University of Nevada had not allowed concealed weapons to be carried on campus. This entire predicament could have been averted had Collins been allowed to carry her gun onto campus to defend herself when the need arose. So what needs to change in order to prevent crimes like this on other college campuses? I believe that college campuses would be safer and better prepared to prevent crimes by allowing students, faculty and administration to carry concealed weapons. By allowing concealed weapons onto campus, it will provide a way for students to defend themselves from attacks and it will help prevent crimes such as Amanda Collins’s. By not allowing students and other campus attendees to carry concealed weapons on campus is in violation of the Second Amendment of the Constitution which states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. The Second Amendment allows everyone the right to have guns. Some claim that this right of having guns is only connected with you having to be in a militia. In 2008 it was decided by the Supreme Court, in the court case known as District of Columbia v. Heller, that “the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a
GOVT
2 October 2012
To Conceal or Not to Conceal On October 22, 2007 Amanda Collins was walking back to her car after a late night midterm at the University of Nevada, Reno. You would think that having a second degree black belt in tae kwon do would give you the idea that you could handle yourself in a difficult situation. Unless that difficult situation happens to be a six foot man with a gun pointed at your head. Amanda Collins was raped that night and there was no way she could defend herself even with a black belt in tae kwon do. How could something like this have been prevented? Amanda had acquired a concealed carry permit for her gun, but the University of Nevada had not allowed concealed weapons to be carried on campus. This entire predicament could have been averted had Collins been allowed to carry her gun onto campus to defend herself when the need arose. So what needs to change in order to prevent crimes like this on other college campuses? I believe that college campuses would be safer and better prepared to prevent crimes by allowing students, faculty and administration to carry concealed weapons. By allowing concealed weapons onto campus, it will provide a way for students to defend themselves from attacks and it will help prevent crimes such as Amanda Collins’s. By not allowing students and other campus attendees to carry concealed weapons on campus is in violation of the Second Amendment of the Constitution which states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed”. The Second Amendment allows everyone the right to have guns. Some claim that this right of having guns is only connected with you having to be in a militia. In 2008 it was decided by the Supreme Court, in the court case known as District of Columbia v. Heller, that “the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a
Bibliography: Adams, Charles F. “The Works of John Adams.” Boston Gazette [Boston] 5 9 1763, 438. Print Agresti, James., and Reid K. Smith. “Gun Control Facts.” Just Facts. Just Facts, 08/14/2012. Web. 1 Oct 2012. <http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.htm>.