Concealed Carry on College Campuses

Your second sentence says you would "feel very unsafe" should students be allowed to carry their concealed weapons. The problem with this statement is that there is a huge difference in feeling safe and being safe. I'm sure the students at Virginia Tech felt very safe knowing that guns were not allowed on their campus; however, the fact is that no one was able to fight back when that maniac attacked. To clarify my 25% statistic, it is that 25% of all reported crimes on a college campus are rapes, not that 25% of women are raped. Furthermore, your point that rape does not justify murder depends on your moral standards. For example, I would rather a woman shoot and kill an immoral man in self-defense than that immoral man sexually harm her. Prevention of rape is certainly a justified reason for killing. "There isn't enough crime on college campuses to support gun ownership." Any crime that causes harm to an innocent person should be prevented any way possible. Just because someone has a gun doesn't mean that person has to use it. There are strict guidelines as to when a person can be justified for using a weapon. As for your point about college students being shot should campus carry be legalized, since Utah first legalized campus carry in 2004, six states have since followed suit. In all that time on over 150 college campuses, there have been only 3 negligent discharges, all of which could have been prevented. Two occurred because the weapon was being carried without a holster and one was because a teacher was showing her new weapon to a coworker. None of these resulted in serious injuries. Many places require that weapons be holstered or cased to prevent things like this from happening. In Point 3, you fail to realize that the "8,275 criminal gun-related homicides" says nothing about cases of unjustified self-defense. Instead, it shows that while 8,275 people committed a criminal act of murder, 230 people were able to defend themselves from harm and put the bad guy six feet under. If you take away concealed carry, you will decrease the number of justified shootings, but would leave those people defenseless in the face of criminals. Now here are some statistics for you. "At the 2013 homicide rate, roughly one in every 285 Americans will be murdered. A U.S. Justice Department study based on crime data from 1974-1985 found: " 42% of Americans will be the victim of a completed violent crime (assault, robbery, rape) in the course of their lives " 83% of Americans will be the victim of an attempted or completed violent crime " 52% of Americans will be the victim of an attempted or completed violent crime more than once" [1] How's that for enough crime to justify concealed carry? When you get to talking about college campuses, there is nothing that will lead a logical person to believe that just because he or she walks onto a campus, that person will not be exposed to criminal activity. While college campuses usually have lower crime rates, they are not crime free. A person who is permitted to carry weapons almost anywhere should not be prevented from doing the same on a college campus where crime is still possible. Here are some more statistics: "A 1982 survey of male felons in 11 state prisons dispersed across the U.S. found: " 34% had been "scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim" " 40% had decided not to commit a crime because they "knew or believed that the victim was carrying a gun" " 69% personally knew other criminals who had been "scared off, shot at, wounded, or captured by an armed victim""[1] Responsibly carrying concealed weapons gives people an effective way to defend themselves. The only reason left to deny a person the right to carry is the very small possibility that someone else will be harmed, and it is not permissible to deny someone a right just because it is accompanied with a minor risk that can be reduced with simple preventative measures. [1]http://www.justfacts.com...