English 102
Critical Essay
11 September 2014
One day walking from finical aid to my car on Wichita State University campus I was robbed with a knife. With this experience and the new laws on conceal and carry permits bring the question to mind should college students be allowed to carry a gun with conceal and carry permit? This is a topic which some may see as a no brainer that college students should not be allowed to do so. The views within this topic are that college student should be allowed to carry and that college students should not be allowed to carry. The following paragraphs will take the pro and con views and compare them. Which side will you join?
To start with the pro side of this topic a statistic that is compelling comes from “Pro & Con Arguments: Should Adults Have the Right to Carry a Concealed Handgun?” shared that, allowing the “shall-issue” concealed carry laws reduced murders by 8.5%, rapes by 5%, aggravated assaults by 7%, and robbery by 3% according to a 2000 analysis of FBU crime data by John R. Lott Jr. This allows us to see that by carrying a handgun concealed can potential change the outcome of a situation in which one might be in danger. Campus face crime all the time. When these crimes occur most of the time campus police do not arrive until the crime is over. This in turn creates the problem of the perpetrator getting away and never to be found. So think about a college student who has a late night class and is walking to or from the building finds themselves face to face with someone trying to harm then. If this person had a concealed gun they would have been able to protect themselves and possible scare the attacker from committing their crime.
The next argument the pro side offers is that having a concealed gun allows them to “feel safer”. This feeling comes from the sense of knowing they can defend themselves when needed. A female conceal and carry permit holder said that, “she needed to be able to...