Is it worth the chance to possibly risk some lives? ;0 I dunno.

People's lives are at risk no matter what we do. Child-proof your house, your kid will still stick marbles up their nose. Install fire alarms in every building, the building will still catch fire.

Existing is dangerous.

Maybe I'm a little heartless about all this, but I still think its worth a shot (if you'll pardon the pun.)

I think guns in themselves aren't nessecary to have unless you are a seasonal hunter.
There's no need to have a gun strapped on you at all times unless you are in a damn war zone.


Guns and artillery will be the downfall of the human and animal population. (Yay for optimism)

Haha at the pun. xD
I know peoples' lives are at risk no matter what, but adding guns to the mix would just make things worse.

You can't really look at something and say, "Oh, it has no hope anyways, I'll just make it worse."

I don't think it will make it worse. I really don't.

If someone feels that they need to have a gun on them at all times, then let them.

Just let me have my damn knife is all... >>

And did I mention that the population of the world is over 5 billion?

@ Hyena ~ I don't know for sure that it'd be worse either, but I'd feel uneasy going to college knowing that some people may have concealed weapons. I'd probably be paranoid that they'd hurt me.

What does the population of the world have to do with anything? xDD

Just thought I'd make an off-color joke about how the world is already overpopulated. ^^

What I'm thinking is that you don't make the allowance of weapons to be made public. Less people are going to bring guns if they don't know that its legal. And people have them anyway. Really, they do. And somehow I get in trouble for a knife. A knife that I use only when I plan on being on the dangerous parts of campus.

I think that the laws that are there for our safety go a little too far. People are going to have guns. To counter, we should be allowed our own modes of protection. But the way things are on Ball State campus, if someone breaks the rules the rest of us are completely vulnerable.

Pfft. ;P

Well then, how would the people who do bring them know that it's legal? :0 I know that a few people may already have them, but I don't know about it. If I know that they do, then I'd be afraid.
I guess it's understandable that you'd get in trouble for a knife, but they should understand that it's only for self-defense. You could say you felt threatened by someone or something.

A lot of laws go too far. :/

They don't find out that what they have is legal. They just...get the chance to feel all confident that they're indeed badass and then go on their merry way doing something else. If they find out through reading the student manual that there is no rule regarding guns, then they'll feel uber-special for finding a loophole. If they find out by not getting in trouble by having it out in front of people, well then that's just bystander apathy.

I did say that I felt threatened. They still confiscated it. So now I can't go out on Saturdays because I'm pretty much a weakling and after the first stalker you find out pretty quick you don't want to be defenseless at night.

Unless, of course, someone goes with me. Which happens from time to time...

Haha, I see.
That's awful that they took it away. Did you get in trouble at all? Maybe you could just take another one. xD Or carry around pepper spray.

Stalkers? That's scary. :/ I could see how some people would feel better with a gun. My neighborhood is pretty safe though.

Hmm...that's an interesting question. I have to say I'm anti-gun in general. I really don't think humans should have even invented the damn things. But I can see where people are coming from; guns are defensive weapons as much as they are offensive. Honestly, though, guns should not be allowed on campus. That's only asking for a school shooting, really.

I don't believe so.
I wouldn't put enough trust in a college kid to carry concealed. Even in Texas.

What the fuck would you need one for? College is where you go to LEARN.

If students carried guns on campus and someone came in and started shooting, it would turn into a good old fashioned shoot out and that would just cost more lives than if only one person was shooting. I think that also it would make disagreements more dangerous, "You made me mad so I'm gonna shoot you". That can happen anywhere though.

There is absolutely no reason for a student to have a gun at school. Even if you say that they have no intention to hurt anyone with it, what is the point of bringing it?! Honestly, I can't think of one argument as to why that would be allowed. I guess you could say that if there was a campus shooting you could defend yourself but really, wouldn't allowing guns on campus just make the shootings easier to start. I am generally on the side of "if someone is determined to cause a mass hysteria and shoot up a school then they are going to do it no matter what the rules are" but really, why let students bring weapons? If you can't bring it into an airport then why would you be able to bring it into a school?!

I've jumped around to reading some of the responses in this thread, and I'd have to say no. None of the reasons for carrying a concealed weapon on a college campus really convinces me that it is a safe or considerate thing to do.

I dislike guns, I don't feel safe around them, no matter what the circumstances are. I've had two separate classes where I have sat next to police officers, who had their uniforms on, guns included, during class, and I felt extremely uncomfortable.

This isn't to say that my feelings are the only feelings that should be considered in this decision, but this is my opinion on the topic, and I believe that universities should be home to a peaceful and safe learning environment, and that environment should be without weapons.

Quite honestly, I see absolutely no reason why it *should* be allowed. Before we get into reasons why not to allow concealed weapons on a campus, I'd want to know why they should be? Most students are too young to carry a concealed weapon in the first place (which means that you have to deal with the issue of people who are too young bringing them in and distinguishing those students- as well as those who aren't licensed- from those allowed to) and the legal reasons for carrying a gun should not be an issue in a school anyways. What would a student need a gun for on campus?
If there was a good reason for carrying a concealed weapon on campus, I would have to consider that as well as the consequences of such. If the benefits outweighed the risks, then sure, but since I can't even see a reason, much less a good reason, right now, they don't.

Another good point.

If you don't intend to use a gun, don't carry one.
It can/will be used against you.

Guns? Actually I don't think guns should really be anywhere I know that's kind of impossible but really I can't stand them. And at a school I think not I mean yes it could be used to protect yourself, but it could also be used to hurt other people. And I think that if people were allowed to carry guns at school that chaos would result. I'm scared of guns haha so of course I don't think they should be. And honestly I don't know many people who do. I mean how could we know how sane every person is and at schools you have people who are picked on and there's no telling what they would do. Not saying that they definitely would but I wouldn't want to take a chance. However if someone were to try to do a school shooting it could be a means of protecting oneself but... there are so many fights over tiny things that people could die over if they had guns. I wish guns were banned I at least wish people would use swords instead at least then you could run >>

Wow Hyena you've really kept up a good debate.

I just want to make some points to everyone.

-if you are anti-gun-on campus, make sure you know all the facts about this subject before going "NO WAY, THEY ARE SO DANGEROUS!" I respect your opinion, but without all the facts and information what is your opinion based on?
-On the whole "the police have the guns" deal, if there are no armed officers at that campus..the police can be there in minutes! Minutes are great, when you actually have the minutes to spare! In a situation like that, seconds matter.
-And on the issue of random people with guns, it doesn't work like that. In order to get a concealed weapons permit, you have to take classes on how and when to use that weapon, and you are taught only to pull that if it is the only option to save your life. You can't legally brandish it as a threat or to show off. Please do some research on concealed weapons permits before expressing your opinions on this.
-One last thing. People carrying concealed does not bring up death rates and all that. Taking away a person's right to carry a gun or own a gun actually raises crime rates. Please do a search on Gun control in other countries in the past and the results. Also see http://www.fdrs.org/gun_control_facts.html

While they would be good for defensive purposes during school shootings, the bad outweighs the good. What I listed above really is the ONLY good thing that could come out of allowing students to bear firearms. If guns were allowed in school, people would be more likely to start shooting other students. Think about it. They have the weapon with them- it would allow people to quickly decide to shoot people if they're provoked. The gun could also misfire when its carried, whether its in a sheath or not, hurting the person, or possibly accidentally killing them.

Originally Posted by jelachu

-And on the issue of random people with guns, it doesn't work like that. In order to get a concealed weapons permit, you have to take classes on how and when to use that weapon, and you are taught only to pull that if it is the only option to save your life. You can't legally brandish it as a threat or to show off. Please do some research on concealed weapons permits before expressing your opinions on this.

I'm not saying random people, but some people who you wouldn't even know have concealed guns, like my bf's mom. And yes, she does show it off [hehe, crazy lady xD]. Just because you're taught something doesn't mean you will follow it.

Hell no, that's just asking for trouble. Weapons should not be allowed on any campus, except late at night.

To me, it seems like the most logical thing to do is to ban guns on campus, and hire more security so that they can respond to shootings on campus.

I think maybe teachers should have one, and one that's locked in their desk.

But other than that, it's not much of a good idea.
I'd just bring MORE gun violence.
What they should do is install metal detectors and up security.

@'clockwork- Oh I know what you meant, I wasn't saying that about what you said, sorry for that misunderstanding. But yeah I know what you mean. If you own a concealed the point is to not show it off XD And yeah some people may not follow all the rules, but what can you do..there will always be people like that no matter what the situation is.

@Javert- There are no statistics out there that prove that people having concealed weapons makes it more likely for people to shoot each other. And on the issue of concealed weapons misfiring, loaded guns aren't just sitting there ready to fire, they have safeties and such. Do you have any information of how often these misfires happen?

@Ariel- You just contradicted yourself..XD

@Zen And Tonic- If a campus has enough armed security, then concealed weapons for the students may not really be necessary. But for campuses that don't have that, the police could never make it in time, so if the students or profesors had concealed weapons, they could easily put a stop to a school shooting.

@Faggy- If that one professor that got shot had had a gun, he could have prevented his being shot, and the deaths and injuries of many of the students. So I do think that professors being allowed to carry concealed would be good. How would it bring more gun violence? Do you have any information to back this up? I do agree that campuses should have better security, but insane people who plan on shooting up schools aren't really the type to care about that, and will find a way in.