The Right to Keep and Bear Arms...at School?

Crystal Meerdo

ENG 101-WC 32

Mrs. Onest

Nov 22 2011

Argumentative Writing

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms…at School?

The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America was written to provide all Americans with the right to keep and bear arms as a tool to protect both life and liberty. While the amendment was enacted to preserve citizens’ rights to own and use guns, it was written in a different life by a different generation, and the founding fathers could not have imagined the battle that would ensue some two hundred and fifty years after the drafting of their work. Although the premise of the right to bear arms has withstood the test of time, the idea of when and how we can bear those arms is often in debate, especially on a school campus. In light of shootings at college and university campuses across the country, many students have joined a movement to persuade school officials to amend their policies regarding carrying concealed weapons on campus. Students are asserting their Second Amendment rights, and have asked to be allowed to carry concealed weapons while attending school, on the premise of personal protection. However, these students have not considered the ramifications of this action. Schools must not permit students to carry concealed weapons on campus, for allowing guns on the school property would endanger the lives of students and would increase the number of student deaths from suicides, violent shootings, and accidents.

While a student in the 1800s may have been able to carry his rifle to school without turning heads, that is certainly not the case for a 21st century college student. In this new world, any story of a student with a gun on a college campus conjures images of the massacres at Columbine High School, the University of Texas, or Virginia Tech. The images of dead students and SWAT teams come to mind, undoubtedly causing students to worry about their own safety and prompting the movement to allow...