Gun Related Shootings

New open carry law will not make Texas college campuses safer Texas government recently passed a new law, Senate Bill 11, which would allow college campus faculty and students to carry a concealed handgun to license holders. Subsequently, this new law will increase the rates of gun related shootings and suicides (Watkins, Matthew, 2015). School shootings are being publicized more due to social media, but they are still very atypical in the United States. Suicide rates will also increase as young adults have more access to firearms. (Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, 2013). The new open carry law will not make Texas college campuses safer. School shootings are rare, so guns on college campuses are not needed. Across the United States

Firearms are amongst the most lethal means to commit suicide, and individuals rarely survive their first suicide attempt if a firearm is used (Center for Disease Control, 2016). Of the thirteen school shootings in Texas since 2013, three were suicides that resulted in the death of a single individual with no intent to injure anyone else (Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, 2013). According to Neuberger and Spiro (2015), “Studies show that over half of college students contemplate committing suicide — and that the presence of a gun in a household increases the chance of suicide by firearm.” Suicide attempts are often based upon impulses and survivors don’t typically try again. In statistics from the CDC website majority of all suicides, over 21,000 a year, are firearm suicides (CDC, 2016). As handguns become more accessible to a larger variety of persons within a limited area the rates will rise due to availability (Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, 2013). Overall guns on campuses will result in the cons heavily outweighing the pros. There are more efficient ways to keep students safe than allowing concealed handguns on college campuses. Allowing firearms will escalate sparse occurrences of school shootings. Suicidal deaths among the student population will also increase as more than half of all college students already consider suicide, the presence of a firearm will only increase the risk more (Neuberger, Joan and Spiro, Ellen, 2015). Permitting concealed handguns on college campuses could potentially end the lives of future heroes and world