Wham, bam, oh dang I shot you, ma’am.
Allowing guns on campus is like letting Snooki reproduce: just plain stupid.
I have no problem with guns. I’m from Texas — I was born with a holster.
I support the Second Amendment, and there is nothing I enjoy more than an afternoon of shooting. There’s a time and a place for guns.
During class at a university is not one of them.
Proponents of guns on campus will argue that it creates a safer environment in the classroom and deters crime. They are wrong.
Do I believe that I could safely carry a concealed weapon on campus? Yes, because I’ve known how to responsibly handle a gun since I was a child. But that doesn’t mean that I trust everyone else to carry guns.
Let’s be honest, the majority of Americans are idiots. I can safely say that I know more dumb people than smart people.
I wouldn’t even trust my most intelligent of friends to carry a gun on campus, much less an idiot.
Accidents happen. People bump into one another. Guns can go off. This is a situation we should all avoid, especially at school.
As far as guns being a deterrent for crime, they are. LSU Police Department officers have a large presence on campus, and they just so happen to carry guns. LSUPD deters crime, not students.
I don’t trust some wild-eyed vigilante to keep me safe.
According to a 2005 report by the New York Times, more than half of Americans will develop a mental illness at some point during their lives.
According to Dr. Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health, the primary sponsor of the study, “mental disorders are highly prevalent and chronic.”
The survey studied nearly 10,000 American adults of all demographics. The researchers found about 17 percent of people suffer from depression, 13 percent from alcohol abuse and 12 percent from extreme anxiety disorders.
If this study is accurate, half of us could be classified as mentally ill during some point in our lives.
My fear is that there are individuals in the LSU student body with undiagnosed or untreated mental illness who may be enabled by an amendment allowing guns on campus.
Is this a radical statement? I don’t believe so. With a student enrollment of more than 28,000, some of you have to be a little crazy.
By no means are all sufferers of mental health disorders violent people, but those who commit school shootings typically are.
The last thing I want to do is enable these people to carry guns on campus. Why make it a rule that somebody can bring a gun on campus even on their worst of days?
According to Capt. Cory Lalonde, LSUPD spokesman, LSUPD has around 70 officers. Thirty of those officers are designated as patrol officers, with six to 10 officers on patrol at any one time.
Do we really need more than 30 guns on campus? Are we going to get invaded?
LSUPD can handle any situation on campus that requires a firearm. And if it can’t, the Baton Rouge Police Department and the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office are always there for backup. There’s no sense in arming the rest of us.
That would only lead to “my gun is bigger than your gun” contests, which never end well for anybody.
Parker Cramer is a 21-year-old political science junior from Houston. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_pcramer.
 
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Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]