Umpqua Community College, Sacramento City College, Savannah State University, Mississippi State University and Texas Southern University; what do these five schools have in common? They all have had on campus shootings since the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. The last one, at UCC in southern Oregon which resulted in 10 people killed and seven injured, occurred less than a month ago. Also in this past month, there have been major pushes in the UW System to pass a Concealed Carry Act for all UW Campuses. Many people view this as a positive event, so students can defend themselves in the case of a school shooting, but there is a lot of overlook on potential issues that might come with the passing of this act.

Having concealed carry on campus may put students at higher risk than on a weapon-free campus. There is the argument that in the case of a campus shooting, a person with a concealed carry permit may be able to stop the shooting, but that is just one scenario where it is beneficial. There are many cases in which it may not be safe to have guns on campus. It would make it far easier for non-permit students to get their hands on a gun than if there was no concealed carry on campus. This could potentially lead to an increase in campus-shootings that wouldn’t have been an issue without concealed-carry being passed on UW-Campuses.

There is also the argument that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. In most cases, that is true, but there are situations where guns do kill people without the owner’s intention. Between 2005 and 2010, almost 3,800 people were killed in unintentional shootings, and over 1,300 of them were under the age of 25. There are numerous cases in which people are killed or severely injured while the owner of the gun believes that the safety is on. There are also many cases in which a gun owner doesn’t know how to properly use their firearm, and unintentionally, harm other people. In both of these cases, it wasn’t the person’s intentions to harm someone generally, but injury and/or death are still the outcome.

In the last few years, there has been a rise in campus shootings based on data from the U.S. Department of Education, and part of this can be contributed to the fact that it is much easier for people unfit to handle firearms to obtain them nowadays. By passing concealed carry on UW-Campuses, this could help continue the steady increase, not only by making it easier for students to obtain weapons, but increasing the likelihood of an unintentional shooting by someone who handles their firearm incorrectly. Many say that concealed-carry is the only way to defend yourself from an attacker, but there are many alternate methods that are safer, and would make it more difficult for unfit students to obtain a firearm.