Essay Example on Gun Laws in Texas: Debates and Concerns

The issue of guns is one of the most discussed topics in Texas. The state of Texas is said to be debatable as it has some of the most permissive and lenient laws that govern and regulate the possession and the use of guns in the United States. However, due to the serious cases resulting from the ownership and use of guns in Texas State, there has been an increase in public concerns over gun control in recent years. Some of the arguments that have developed concerning the matter are the belief of gun control laws reduces gun-related incidents and crimes, the belief that gun control laws are ineffective and the belief that private gun ownership reduces crimes. The issue of gun ownership has had unpleasant cases and results, for instance, gun shootings in colleges in Texas, for example, Lone Star College in 2013, gun violence cases, gun suicidal cases, gun theft, and gun-related accidents. This has resulted in loss of lives and hospitalization expenses. Guns in Texas colleges, for instance, draws extreme attention of discussion. Texas laws allow some instances of college students carrying guns, the campus carry concept. The laws call for 4-year universities, as passed in 2016 and community colleges as passes in 2017, however, it should be a concealed carry only and open carrying is strictly prohibited. Nonetheless, there are options in private institutions. The arguments on campus carry were to enhance students' safety or because of safety concerns for those who supported the idea whereas those who were against the idea argued that campus carry would cause learning distractions and that there would be more guns in campus grounds. Therefore, from this discussion, the issue of gun ownership in campus in Texas draws us to attention of discussing about gun ownership and gun laws as discussed below.

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The issue of gun ownership in campuses in Texas has had increased rates of crimes and learning distractions, therefore it is well justified that people should not be allowed to carry guns on campus. Gun ownership has resulted in deaths of campus students, gun accidents, gun violence, murders, threats, and suicidal cases.

Ownership and permissions of carrying guns on campus in Texas, has led to increased crime rates, despite being a concealed campus carry. It is a bit contradictory to the concept of guns possession reducing crimes, but statistics have shown increased crime rates in relation to campus carry due to the enactment of "shall-issue" laws that have led to a rise of crime rates (Bartula and Bowen 2015). This is depicted in a rise of assaults between 1977 and 2006. There is a massive number of lives lost through gunshots. This normally scares a lot of people despite the thought that some have that having guns helps them be secure.

The law of campus carry usually tends to turn confrontations into lethal incidents. Members of the public who own guns and carry them to the campus risk escalating everyday campus disagreements into shootouts. Arguments are common among campus students. This results to disagreements in campus, that are usually frequent between students, therefore campus carry may tend to influence the disagreeing parties into public shootouts. This presents fear among other students and attracts public attention causing distractions to campus learning and the progress of institution activities. These confrontations lead to increased tensions that may subject campus students into shooting each other (Thompson et al. 2013). All these crimes committed on the basis of guns possession in institutions results in psychological problems and traumatization after individuals see others with guns, or witness gunshots.

Possession of guns on the campus gives dangerous people opportunities and easy access to firearms. By allowing campus students to have guns in institutions, it gives chances of dangerous people to possess guns. This poses an overall threat to the public. The concealed carry law is basically effective if citizens or if the campus students are responsible and law abiding. But then there is a limited possibility of guaranteeing that individuals will continue being obedient to the law under all circumstances. However, due to the fact that it is hard to distinguish between students and the other people, or good and bad people, here is likeliness of individuals with criminal and malicious intentions gets access to guns and are able to carry them, though in a concealed way. This will not deter them under and circumstances from conducting their planned violence crimes.

The issue of allowing campus carry will also encourage criminals to carry guns, despite some of their reason being to protect themselves from potential victims who are also armed (Bouffard et al. 2012). This basically encourages criminal acts in institutions and other places. Furthermore, the concept of campus carry instills fear especially to individuals who lack enough courage to own and carry guns while it gives extreme courage and confidence to individuals who have them to create threats to other students. This also integrates fear to campus instructors who have the thoughts of discussing issues of marks with students who are armed.

Campus carry also results in non-carrying public being vulnerable. An individual in campus who is not carrying a gun will always feel defenseless especially in the presence of others who are armed. For example, a student will normally feel helpless and unprotected in an instance where a commotion or threat arises, and some individuals start pulling out their gun, but he/she does not have. Students from colleges in Texas admitted that they would feel insecure if other parties, that is, everybody in the institutions are allowed to carry guns, as depicted from a peer-reviewed study. The issue of campus carry of generally subjects' students in college to indulge in the gun trade. Some are involved in the selling of guns which is a dangerous business that is associated with drug trafficking. This distracts their learning activities in campus.

More so, college students being allowed to have guns has resulted in suicidal cases. Students with psychological challenges and depressions are reported to have shot themselves. This contributes to the deadly crisis in colleges.

Despite the thoughts of other individuals that campus carry creates a sense of security, deters crimes, and helps in stopping public shooting spree, it still remains to be a topic of discussion. Others may present their arguments that concealed campus carry helps reducing crimes such as rapes and aggravated assaults as presented by previous research data and helps the student feel safe and secure while carrying guns it is not maximally justified because the opponents that conduct these crimes and immoral actions are also armed. From the analysis above, I definitely argue that campus carry should not be allowed as it continues to cause the death of campus students through shootings in campus premises, guns violence, guns murder and suicides in the institutions.

However, there should be an application of gun laws and policies in order to decrease or eliminate the amount of gun violence, crimes, and murder in colleges. The public has also had opinions on the application of stricter laws that control guns. This is because they have witnessed the devastating shooting crisis of their children in colleges while others are victims (Bouffard et al. 2012). Due to the fact that many families possess guns in their homes, there should be strict laws that encourage adults to secure guns properly to reduce their accessibility to college students. There should be education programs to create awareness for adults on proper gun storage. This will help the reduction of guns possession in colleges hence reduce gun violence. Proper storage of guns by parents will also eliminate the cases of gun suicides that are regularly committed.

The government should introduce gun laws that prohibit college students from carrying guns to institutions. The government should form an effective partnership with the institution's management to integrate strict laws that prohibit guns possession on campus, but instead can integrate effective security system and personnel in the institutions. There should be legislation also to prohibit retail gun sellers and licensing of purchasers of guns to help reduce the diversion of guns in the country is also an effective policy (Molsbee 2007). All these policies require individual, institutions and government cooperation to enhance their implementation.

Conclusion

The regulation, possession, and use of guns in Texas have been a huge and argumentative topic that has drawn much attention from the public. The gun laws have allowed campus carry, whereby college students have been allowed to carry guns though in a concealed way to learning institutions. This has led to a lot of concern for the public, the government, and students as a result of the unexpected outcomes. There have been numerous cases of shooting in colleges, gun violence cases, murder, and gun suicidal cases. This has led to the death of many students in this crisis. This is, however, an unexpected result from the legislation that was passed on campus carry.

Therefore, discussions have arisen calling for policy applications to aid in addressing the issue to help reduce these cases that end up creating fear in institutions and building insecure environments. Therefore, from the above analysis, it is well justified that the campus carries the concept that allows students to carry guns in the campus has led to crisis instead of addressing safety issues. I, therefore, conclude that there should be an application of gun laws that prohibits the possession and carrying of guns in the colleges.

References

Bartula, A., & Bowen, K. (2015). University and college officials' perceptions of open carry on a college campus. Justice Policy Journal, 12(2), 1-17.

Bouffard, J. A., Nobles, M. R., Wells, W., & Cavanaugh, M. R. (2012). How many more guns? Estimating the effect of allowing licensed concealed handguns on a college campus. Journal of interpersonal violence, 27(2), 316-343.

Molsbee, S. (2007). Zeroing out zero tolerance: Eliminating zero tolerance policies in Texas schools. Tex. Tech L. Rev., 40, 325.

Thompson, A., Price, J. H., Dake, J. A., Teeple, K., Bassler, S., Khubchandani, J., ... & Aduroja, A. (2013). Student perceptions and practices regarding carrying concealed handguns on university campuses. Journal of American college health, 61(5), 243-253.