Let’s make this clear right now — I’m not a fan of Texas.
Even more so than Nike shorts or vanity plates, it’s one of my usual sources of frustration. From its origins to its more modern affairs, I can find very little that’s agreeable about the state.
So it really didn’t surprise me to learn what Texas is attempting to pass — a bill allowing students to carry guns onto campuses. As someone who is pro-gun control, I am completely against ideas that lead to the further spread of lethal weaponry.
To me, it simply sounds like Texas is setting itself up for more problems in the future.
Unfortunately, this proposed bill seems to be only a small part of a larger national trend, as states like Utah and Colorado are among those who have already made similar steps.
The reasoning most lawmakers have made for passing bills like this is to prevent events like the tragedy at Virginia Tech in 2007.
In their eyes, the best way to stop these kinds of massacres is for other students to be armed and able to stop attackers in the heat of the moment.
While there might be some semblance of reason in this train of thought, the overall idea seems extremely flawed.
We all know university life can be crazy at times. Whether it’s from tests, sports or social-life issues, countless sources of stress abound in today’s academic environment. When people get stressed, it’s almost impossible for tempers not to flare occasionally.
I consider myself a pretty laid-back person, but even I have to admit to sometimes taking stress and frustration out unjustly.
While adding guns into this mix will not lead to violence for the majority of the time, there will always be a chance someone will lose control.
With more people bearing weapons in a university environment, it’s bound to happen. Nothing ends a dispute in your favor quite as fast as backing it up with the threat of a gun.
There is yet another argument against passing a bill like the one Texas has proposed, and it’s far more important in the long run.
If you bring a gun into an educational environment, especially one that thrives on the spread of different ideas, it destroys the balance established in the school.
Without this balance, the power of a university easily diminishes. Both students and professors need to know their ideas cannot be bullied with the threat of violence if we want our colleges to be a true place of learning.
Another downside the bill might bring about is the preparedness of future attackers.
Yes, there might be more people who could possibly stop an attack should it happen in the future. However, attackers would know they would need to prepare for such resistance.
While this would be true for any change in security on campuses, it is not guaranteed students will always be carrying firearms. In other words, they won’t always be prepared to defend themselves when crazed attackers bring guns onto campus legally, which could very easily lead to more disastrous attacks.
Weapons simply are not necessary in a learning environment, and there are better ways to go about improving school safety. Guns have already been brought into far too many places in this country. The last thing we need is for it to spread even more.
School safety will increase far more if we instead look at better state-funded security or earlier identification of problems. Arming students is not the answer to this horrible problem.
Texas, you may not have done much to impress me in the past, but there’s always time to start.
 
Zachary Davis is a 20-year-old history junior from Warsaw, Poland. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_zdavis.
 
 
____
Contact Zachary Davis at [email protected]