Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
People seem awful confident that jilted lovers and trivial arguments might not get escalated to deadly force and that suicides might not increase if hundreds of still developing minds all carried weapons around to campus and Keg parties.
Do jilted lovers,keg parties and trivial arguments not exist in the rest of society?
Why would there be any difference between society and universities?
Yes, but if everyone had a gun and one person drew and fired theirs in public, you'd have everyone shooting at him/her and others will get hurt in the crossfire.
Why doesn't this happen more in places where gun ownership and the carrying of guns is more prevalent than perhaps your area?
CCW means concealed...no-one knows who is carrying and who is not.
But general society is also comprised of college aged kids....
As is the military.
Obviously the environment is different.
Adding guns to the mix seems at least to me would lend itself to a lot more enabled suicides and tragedies.
One third of college students have symptoms of serious mental illness... and you want to let them now all carry guns around openly?
If we need to now have our kids qualified at the range before sending them off to college that seems... just a bit twisted.
» Nationwide, a 2004 study reported that one-third of students reported symptoms of serious mental illness.
» At Middlebury College -- an institution that is, perhaps, not unlike many small schools -- staff estimated that from 33 percent to 40 percent of students received counseling during the last academic year; nationwide, 9 percent of college students sought counseling in 2006.
» Suicide is the second-leading killer of college-age students, averaging roughly 1,100 deaths in recent years. Studies show that 10 percent consider ending their lives, while about 1.5 percent attempt the act each year.
» Depression appears to be the leading reason for seeking counseling. In 2004, the percentage of students counseled for depression reached 14.9 percent, the College Mental Health Association said. One study noted that 45.1 percent of students felt so depressed that it was difficult to function, and 15 percent met the criteria for clinical depression.
The rise in mental illness may be caused by one of, or a mix of, the following: the stress of college; parental and peer pressure; alcohol and drug use; and the age of terrorism. Of particular concern for people from Hawaii, Asian-American women ages 15-24 have the highest suicide rate of women of any race or ethnic group in that age range. This is often attributed to "model minority pressure" -- the pressure that some Asian Americans put on their children to excel in school and later in their careers, and the fact that Asian-American parents tend to more strict with girls than boys.
Whatever the reasons, more students with mental health problems are heading for college because they are now on anti-depressants.
Can anyone explain HOW making an area 'gun free' will stop a criminal from possessing a gun?
How many criminals actually possess and use guns? Why haven't you considered this aspect? You might be surprised. Facts, please. You might be solving a mosquito problem with an elephant gun. It is too easy to ask a misleading and inflammatory question.
Inflammatory cop-out answer. what are the facts? Gun lovers think that guns must be faced down with MORE GUNS. How convenient for them! Don't they understand the logic of the whole question? We need MORE GUNS because there are people out there, for instance, with mental illnesses (mall shooting, Columbine, church shooting)? No, you treat the mental illnesses, NOT ARM THE CAMPUS!
1. Reduce the total number of guns.
2. Address social ills by addressing root causes.
It might very well be possible that a mentally ill person in college would use the gun they are legally allowed to possess(if allowed) to kill themselves.
It is a simple fact that a mentally ill person in college DID use a gun they legally could not possess to kill 30+ other people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
