...Texas Campus Carry Texas Campus Carry has been a major topic of debate as of late. Many of those who support Campus Carry believe that concealed handguns allow licensed adults to defend themselves and protect others in the event of a crisis. These supporters believe gun laws only restrict law abiding citizens from their 2nd amendment rights with minimal effect on criminal gun owners. However; many anti-gun activists believe that more guns are not the answer to a gun problem and a Campus Carry law may increase accidental discharges, violence, as well as youth suicides. The University of Texas massacre fifty years ago is a prime example of this heated issue on both sides of the gun debate. On August 1, 1966, Charles Joseph Whitman climbed the University of Texas Tower, in Austin, and in a span of 96 minutes fired 150 high-powered rounds of ammunition down into unsuspecting university students and faculty. Those nearby heard "strange noises" and thought nothing of it until they saw the bodies and blood on the sidewalks. The shooter killed and wounded nearly 50 people that day (Lavergne). A similar occurrence happened on a Monday morning April 2007, on the campus of Virginia...
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...The New College Classroom – 25 Students, 12 Handguns Campus life as we know it is about to change and joining the debate team may hit an all-time low. In Texas, the change is coming on August 1, 2017, with a new law allowing students to carry concealed handguns on public University campuses. I assure you that I would feel very uncomfortable sitting in a classroom knowing that there were one, two, five or possibly ten guns in the room with me. And what if a student dropped his backpack and his gun inside accidently discharged? While this may be highly unlikely, I know that each time I saw a backpack fall to the floor, I would react a little differently than before. We have all seen the horror when a troubled person at school is wanting to make a statement by causing as much carnage as possible. Whenever a tragedy happens in this country, we want answers. If a tragedy involves young people within a school, it hits us all even harder and we demand immediate solutions. Supporters of this law state that bad guys will think twice about coming onto a campus knowing their planned attack may be cut short by students packing heat. The National Rifle Association's Executive Vice President and CEO, Wayne LaPierre, says "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." While in theory that could be true, I don't buy it. We have seen shootings at police stations, courthouses, Embassy's and many other places where everybody is aware guns are present. If there is...
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...x Do Texas Teachers Feel Concealed Handguns Are a Viable Security Option on Texas ISD Campuses? Timothy D. Clouse Wayland Baptist University EDUC 5366 1 February, 2012 Abstract This study is to explore how Texas Teachers feel about the possibility of other faculty or staff members carrying a concealed firearm on school property as a means to protect the students and staff from an armed attack. A survey was sent to 720 teachers across the 20 Texas school regions. The survey is made up of nine questions; the first seven are general information questions to provide researchers with demographic data; the remaining two are opinionated questions concerning how they feel about themselves or other trained faculty or staff carrying firearms in their school. Results were divided evenly between those that were for and those that were against having concealed firearms in their schools. Gender, prior military service, school population, and the type of school setting, i.e., elementary, junior high, or high school, generally, were not factors in determining how teachers felt about the subject; however, there was one significant finding, among teachers that possess a Texas Concealed Handgun license (CHL), results were unanimous when asked if they would volunteer to carry a weapon at their school. Table of Contents Abstract 2 Introduction 4 Problem Statement 5 Literature Review 5 Methodology 6 Limitations of Study 8 Results 9 Conclusion 11 Reference List...
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...Concealed carry on campuses ranges from any building that is owned or leased by a institution for higher education, according to Section 61.003 of the education code. An act of carrying handguns on campuses was enacted by the legislature of the state of Texas in 2016, however, before this was passed there was years of consideration and minimal action. Leading up to this bill there were numerous occurrences of fatal campus shootings and massacres, passing this bill would in hopes allow students to protect themselves if a situation arises and/or help stop the progression of a shooting. Although the students on campus could potentially lesson the number of victims injured or worse, there was also the potential of the opposite to happen, more guns...
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...Abstract Universities and College campus are a hot topic because every year they attract and house hundreds of thousands of not always quite mature teens and young adults. The perception is that the Campus Carry Law will not be very effective and could quite possibly back fire on innocent faculty and student body members, victimizing anyone who may come in contact with one of these radically violent individuals intent on harming people. (2015) Arrigo Bruce and Acheson Austin Contemporary Justice Review, Concealed carry bans and the America college Campus. Statistically numbers are down when looking back over the past couple decades. Since 1990 there have been 143 school shooting related instances and over 450 deaths and injuries. (2006) Norton Elia and Jennifer Ansier, USA Today, Behind the Bloodshed. The very fact any person could possibly be murdered or injured by another person at any moment in America has always been known and terrifies the majority of citizens. Like many Americans I have to ask, what we can do as a Nation, one unit, to better insure the public safety of every individual. To understand this problem we must go to the root. The American System and its five sets of institutions which ultimately control American way of life. The five institutions are legal, political, economic, educational and sociocultural. All of which too often combine to leave our efforts short of progression. Introduction The issue with gun laws and the legal system have to do with the...
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...In the past few years, America has had many problems with gun control. Many shootings have occurred causing many deaths, including children. Some have been at elementary schools, college campuses, and even at a movie theater. What makes people think that by allowing college students to have guns on their campus will help solve this problem? Instead of helping, it might make things worse. There should not be any type of weapon on college campuses. There should be more restrictions on permitting guns rather than allowing more people to have access to them. Guns on college campuses should be prohibited because it can damage people’s emotional wellbeing, cause accidents, and raise crime rates. In the Constitution, there were ten Amendments added to it which gave people certain rights and privileges. These amendments are known as the Bill of Rights. It was passed by Congress on September 25, 1789, and was later ratified on December 15, 1791 (Amendment II Right to Bear Arms). The second Amendment of the United States Constitution states, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary...
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...elementary schools. Teachers’ unarmed in these dangerous situations causes a lot more deaths among students and teachers themselves. Little is being done to counteract these dangerous situations, guns should be in the hands of the teachers. If some teachers decide to OPT OUT of carrying a gun, then that teacher class should be in proximity of another teacher that is carrying a gun. Teachers that carry guns on school property should go through the proper training of shooting a gun properly, this would prevent less deaths in schools and save more lives. The statistics of school shootings are...
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...4 December 2015 Fostering a Concealed Campus In 2007 during the Virginia Tech Shooting, a boy’s best-friend’s brother was there, in one of the classrooms that the gunman targeted. He escaped but this information gave him chills. That boy’s name is Jeff. Why is it that issues don’t matter until a horrifying story has a personal connection to its readers that it causes them to fully gasp the situation? There are many alternatives to students carrying weapons on campus. Advocates for guns on campus say that it will make the environment safer, but in reality only the students and faculty can make a campus safer. If someone sees something, they should say something. Responsibility is the first method of defense, not guns. There are over 4,400 colleges and universities in the United States, the majority of these do not allow students or faculty to carry guns on campus. The states that allow students and faculty to carry firearms on college property are Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin. Only Utah and Colorado have explicit laws about allowing concealed firearms on campus, but leave the ultimate decision up to schools to decide whether to allow guns on campus or not. Twenty other states allow schools to decide on allowing guns of any type on campus. This leaves students confused where they can and cannot carry firearms across America. In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education conducted a study that determined that the homicide rate at post-secondary...
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...Herrera Sean McAuley English 1101 14 July 2015 Should school administrators be allowed to have firearms on school grounds? I think they should be able to have guns on campus. They can be allowed to have them with the proper training and the proper certification to handle a gun. Administrators who carry guns must have and maintain a handgun license; pass a psychological evaluation; and undergo firearms and emergency response training. The administrators can be allowed to have a firearm if they wish to if they wish to go that extra mile to keep their students safe. They will not be forced to have a gun if they do not wish to. With so many school shootings that have happened though out the years, I find that it will help keep the students safe. Having a gun on school campus will not stop the school shooting from happening. It will buy some time for the police to get there and handle the situation. If the teacher need to shoot the gun, with the proper training they will receive they will be able to know where to shoot and how to shoot. In order to have a gun in class the will have to keep it locked up where they only know where it is and they are the only ones to have a key to the lock. Many states are debating whether they should allow the students and school teacher to carry a gun on school campus. Oklahoma singed a bill last year where it is now legal for teachers and staff to carry guns on public school grounds. Texas just recently passed a bill allowing guns at college...
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...Concealed Carry on Campus: Yea or Nay? 1 Concealed Carry on Campus: Yea or Nay? Toni Struve COM/155 University Composition and Communication I May 6, 2012 Kathleen Zurich Concealed Carry on Campus: Yea or Nay? 2 Abstract This essay debates the pros and cons of allowing concealed carry weapons on campuses. Both sides have relevant information that supports their point of view. I have presented data from both sides of this issue and leave it to the reader to decide which argument they will support. Concealed Carry on Campus: Yea or Nay? 3 In the war over guns, the first casualty was the truth (Kleck, 2009). Could the results of the tragedies at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and the private college in California been lessened if concealed weapons were permitted on campuses? Studies have been conducted, but there have been no definitive results. Each side of this question can quote statistics and studies that will prove their point of view. There is no absolute answer to this question, but many people believe that the outcome may have been much different if concealed weapons were present on campus. As with every issue of this magnitude, there are two sides to this question. The debate about whether to allow concealed weapons on campus raises questions of personal safety, legality and are gun-free zones really safer. Students for Concealed Carry is a nationwide organization made up of over 43,000 students, professors...
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...schools be safer if the professors or teachers carried a hand gun? Yes they would. School shooting are happening more and more. Just in the last couple of weeks there have been about three shooting at colleges where people were injured or killed. Some parents from a school in Texas think it is a bad idea because they said “the teachers are trained to teach our children not carry a gun” (Gainesville SunAug 26 2008), but others said that they felt that their children were safe with their teachers carrying a fire arm (Gainesville SunAug 26 2008). In cases like the Sandy Hook shooting, if the teachers in those class rooms would have had a gun to protect the students and themselves, then there might have been less deaths. The teachers that carry the weapons should be psych tested every six months so that authorities can know if they will endanger the children....
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...Clark Professor Cooper Texas Government December 1, 2014 The Determination of Wendy Davis Some people say education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world, and I agree. Wendy Davis is a well-educated woman who has broken barriers in her carrier and fought for the education systems in Texas because she knows the importance of it. It was not an easy road to success for Davis; she has been through many trails on her journey. Born the daughter of Jerry and Virginia Russell Wendy was born May 16, 1963 in West Warwick Rhode Island. Her Family moved to Fort Worth, Texas in 1973. At 14 years old Wendy worked two jobs to help her mother support her three siblings. She worked for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and at an Orange Juice stand. By 17 years old she was an independent woman taking care of herself and at 18 she became a mother to her daughter Amber and a wife to her Husband Frank Underwood. But the marriage didn’t last past the honey moon stage because by the age of 21 Davis and he were divorced. But luckily true love was only around the corner because Wendy was soon remarried to her Husband today Jeff Davis. Wendy knew that she had to change her life around. She had to do something better then working two jobs to barely make ends meet, so when she saw her opportunity for education at Tarrant County College she took it. Wendy Davis started out at Tarrant County College where she stayed for two years and then transferred to Texas Christian University where...
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...the unthinkable. A student, if possible and with skill, may be able to retrieve the weapon from the teacher wherever the weapon may be held. The student might then cause trouble and the teacher would be blamed for not keeping the weapon in a secure place. Students already steal teacher’s wallets, phones and other items; there has even been a report of a student stealing a teacher’s car! Surely a student would try, and at least one student would succeed at stealing a weapon from an armed teacher at school. Besides that thought, people still believe that arming teachers on campus is fine, as long as other’s don’t know about it, such as in Utah. “Carrying concealed weapons in public schools is a right protected by law for permit holders in Utah, and teachers who carry firearms are not required to inform school administrators of the existence of their weapons” (Schlanger 1). In Utah, teachers are allowed to carry weapons in schools without informing anyone. There is a plus side to this argument. If no one knows that teachers are carrying a weapon, then no one can steal it to harm others and no one will feel threated. The teachers don’t have to tell their co-workers, the students or even the students’ parents and guardians. But who knows what would happen if someone found out about their concealed weapon in...
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...for the banning of guns. (Vizzard, 2015) Over the years, there have been many arguments between citizens and lawmakers whether to ban guns or not. With mass shootings in Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, and Arizona in recent years, the argument has been brought back to the surface. However, still no gun control legislation has been passed (Vizzard, 2015). The second amendment states individuals have the right to bear arms (Sipf, 2015) protecting themselves from harm. The right to bear arms is a constitutional right; legally protecting oneself should be the right of every living person, and should not be taken away. The second amendment was set in a time very different from current days. There were no school shootings, no gang activity, and there were no movie theaters for a person to walk into and start shooting. The gun policy has not changed in decades, with that, does the second amendment still apply. In 1993, both the Brady Handgun Prevention Act (commonly termed the Brady Law) which had expired in 2004 and federal assault weapon restrictions laws were passed, since then little impact has been seen. (Vizzard, 2015) After a group of mass shootings happened around the United States, a few of the states have “placed additional restrictions on magazine capacities of semi-automatic firearms” (Vizzard, 2015) in attempt to hinder the ability to cause the inevitable carnage. Many unsuccessful bills have been through congress throughout the years. However, no significant new legislation...
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...incorporate multiple strategies and address the full range of possible acts of violence in schools. For any set of policies to work, it must be established and implemented with the full participation and support of school board members, administrators, parents, students, community members, emergency response personnel, and law enforcement.” (Kramen, 2008.) If these responsibilities were not shared, the success rate for safe school policies would be very low. Parents send their children to school and think that during that time they are studying and doing other productive, educational things. The last thing parents expect is something terrible happening to their child while at school. School violence is happening more frequently than it should and something needs to be done to stop it. Not only does an act of school violence, especially a school shooting, affect the individual student it reflects poorly on the United States school systems but it also reflects poorly to our nation as whole. Some people may argue that there is more pressure on kids these days than ever before and this can lead children to acting out and ultimately leading to unexpected actions. People may argue that children are inspired by movies and video games. Parents and school officials may argue that students idolize...
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