Students should be allowed to carry firearms on campus

After the recent shooting at the University of Texas, discourse on gun control rapidly spiked in news and public conversation. Normally the argument (of any school shooting) is that the shooting is a prime example of why students should not be allowed to carry weapons on campus. The obvious paradox is that if students had been armed, the school shooter would not have been the only one shooting.

People allow their emotions to get the best of them in these situations, making any logical or rational decision almost impossible. Logically and rationally, however, you can assume that school shootings will continue to occur, regardless of whether students can be armed. None of these shooters went to the on-campus gun store to purchase their firearms; they went off campus and came right back, armed to the teeth. In this light, it is unreasonable not to legally allow competent, responsible students to arm themselves.

Although UH has not had a school shooting, we are a real campus with real crime. We have had countless robberies, muggings, sexual assaults and other general criminal activity. Any college campus is prime rib for criminals because of all the fresh and naive students walking around, but there are a few specific reasons as to why UH is such a target.

First, we are in the middle of Houston’s Third Ward, just blocks from downtown. Even though a lot of students like to pretend we’re part of some nice happy community, this is prime area for drugs, theft and people willing to act. Secondly, there are only so many police and security out patrolling, and the dubious security cameras monitoring us 24/7 do nothing. Lastly, the vast majority of students walk around unarmed — no knife, pepper spray, stun gun or concealed firearm. Mix these together and you have a feeding ground for criminals. Real life crime requires real life defense, not “complying with the criminal,” hoping that you’ll walk away from someone pointing a gun at you.

Texas is a concealed carry state, and yet the schools in Texas, of all places, are not. Another confusing aspect is that guns are legal, yet batons, brass knuckles and the like are illegal weapons. Would it lessen public safety if everyone walked around with telescopic batons in their pockets? How is that less safe? The logic requires the benefit of the doubt, since it’s against the law to carry these kinds of weapons and everyone knows criminals wouldn’t dare break the law.

There are plenty of NRA supporters and concealed campus activists who love to make weak, easily refutable arguments as to why people should be armed, but talking about the Second Amendment or how a gun can prevent violence is miles from the point. The point is that criminals have guns, highly dangerous students can easily get guns, and although the police are armed, they can’t be everywhere at once. This isn’t about prevention — it’s about equivalency.

In an ideal situation, no one would have guns — not criminals, police or citizens. This way everyone would have to fight face to face on equal ground, or take the more civilized route and discuss matters like adults. But this is not a perfect world; instead, it’s a world with firearms.

The most practical solution is to arm as many mentally stable, competent and overall responsible people as possible, students included.

UT was just about to debate the weapon laws on campus prior to the shooting.

What will it take to have the same discussion at UH?

David Haydon is a polticial science junior and may be reached at [email protected].