Are Guns Really the Answer?
So my alma mater’s been having some problems with robberies, hold ups, and rapes on campus. Just a few days ago, yet again, some students were held up just outside of campus on their return from the holiday break. The person robbed them of their luggage, wallets, purse…and took off.
I was listening to a local conservative talk show on the way in this morning, and he was talking about the need for students to legally carry concealed weapons on campus.
He called Bud Peterson (GaTech’s president) a candya** for being so against it.
. . .
Does not compute…for several reasons.
How exactly do you solve the problem of violence…by increasing the opportunity for violence?
People have gotten shot and raped on/near campus. If you brandish a weapon, as the attacked, seems the only deterrent the attacker would have for being shot is shooting first. MIGHT work for the violence without weapons attackers, but other than that…
Is it really a good idea to give guns to students who are probably on edge anyway?
Georg.ia Tec.h is a very difficult school. The students are strung out on stress more often than not. It consistently ranks high in “Campus with the least happy students” lists…as well as “Campus with the most suicides”. Again, is it really a good idea to put lethal weapons in the hands of students who are more likely to use them on themselves or…
I fear for the Black students on campus, or really the Black males.
Of course most of the attackers have been Black, at least among the robbers. I’ve heard countless stories of dudes I know having trouble on campus, as students, and having to prove that they go there…and still having trouble when they produce a student ID. Race relations aren’t terrible on campus, but they aren’t good either. With people believing everything they see on TV about Black people (See Rea.l Hous.ewives/Lov.e and Hi.p Hop/Music Videos/Politicians/CNN comment sections) it’s hard to combat ideas about who we are and what we’re like. Students who haven’t interacted with Black people tend to be rather ignorant of us…thinking we’re different and all act a certain way…when really, if we’re at Tech, we probably lived down the street from you all your life (as products of middle class/upper middle class/or even higher income families).
That ignorance is real…and to have a bunch of people on campus with guns who think every Black dude is violent and out to get them? A problem.
I don’t know what the solution is. Increase police presence? Gates and fences like they have at More.house and Spel.man? Curfew for the students? Increased Stingerette service (a shuttle that takes students off campus after hours)? Issue tasers to students?
I don’t know…but they need to do something.
I didn’t agree with the guy on the radio this morning, but I did hear him when he called out Bud…what happens when a student is killed? Who will be making the phone call to their parents that their son/daughter was robbed and shot/stabbed to death for their iPad?
