Research Topic

Open Gun law in Academic Institutions

Rationale of the Research

Implementation of Open Gun policy in the USA that would allow students and other academic staff to carry fire arms in the campus. This leads to create a faction in the society, one group supporting the policy, the other opposing it. Therefore, it leaves scope to evaluate the merits of the arguments presented by both sides.

Key Concepts

Open Gun Policy, Guns, Concealed Carrying, Educational Institutes, Students, Teachers, Violence, Security, Safe Space, Religion, Gender, Misuse of Weapons, Power Disparity, Community Colleges, 4-year Course College.

Database Searched

• University Library
• Online library
• Open online sources

 

 

Citations and Sources

Source 1: Lewis, Rhonda K., et al. “College students’ opinions on gun violence.” Journal of community health 41.3 (2016): 482-487.

The article gathers and summarizes the opinions of 419 college students of a Midwestern University on the issues of purchasing weapons, carrying assault weapons to university and their perceived contribution to gun violence. The study presents a primary quantitative database, involving a diverse population that helps to extract a definite statistics without a bias. It categorizes the population on the basis of gender, race and ethnicity, marital status and political affiliation.

Key Findings:

• The authors maintain that gun violence has become a significant health issue in the USA
• Overall 54% of the respondents supported the endeavor to ban assault weapons
• 53% respondents expressed their support on the issue of teachers carrying concealed weapon
• Male and female participants’ views differed on the issue of addressing gun violence
• Top concerns that lead to gun violence are identified as gang involvement (14%), bullying (13.8%), ease of access (13.8%) and decline in parenting and family values (17%)

Source 2: Bartula, Aaron, and Kendra Bowen. “University and college officials’ perceptions of open carry on college campus.” Justice Policy Journal 12.2 (2015): 1-17.

The study presents an account of the opinions of Texas University and College Police officials on the perceived effects of open carry on campus crime, campus security and victimization among student, faculty and staff.

Findings:

 

• The perceived amount of crime and firearm related incidents will remain unchanged
• Fear of victimization among students and staff may increase
• The Police officials strongly oppose the proposal and implementation of any potential open carry bill in college campus (91.5%) due to the concern of misuse and accidental discharge of assault weapon.

Source 3: Miller, Matthew, David Hemenway, and Henry Wechsler. “Guns and gun threats at college.” Journal of American College Health 51.2 (2002): 57-65.

The study presents an account of the opinion of more than 10,000 undergraduate students from 119 4-years colleges on gun possession and gun threats. The research shows opinions of both the amount of students possessing firearm and the victims of armed threat.

Findings:

• 4.3% students possess fire arms
• 1.6% students are threatened at gunpoint
• Male students are more likely to be threatened
• The aggressive behaviour to threaten are aided by binge drinking, engaging in risky activities after drinking and residing in areas with a higher rate of possessing household fire arms.

Source 4: Schildkraut, Jaclyn, Collin M. Carr, and Victoria Terranova. “Armed and academic: Perceptions of college students on concealed carry on campus policies.” Journal of school violence 17.4 (2018): 487-499.

This study presents a discourse on students’ opinion on the newly enacted concealed carry policy in Texas. The rationale of the research scopes on the heightened fear among student and academic professionals subsequent to the Virginia Tech shooting case. The study presents a detailed literature survey that would help examine the theoretical framework and empirical evidences that would fortify the findings.

Findings:

• The conflict between gun control and gun rights are clearly a dichotomous issue
• The overall inclination among students regarding concealed carry strictly opposes the bill
• Among the diverse population of the study, male students, Republicans and gun owners are likely to support the issue

Source 5: Rostron, Allen, and Brian Siebel. “No Gun Left Behind-The Gun Lobby’s Campaign to Push Guns into Colleges and Schools.” Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence (2007).

The anthology presents a detailed case study of the gun carrying lobby’s efforts to legalize gun carrying and its perceived as well as latent impact on the academic environment. The book scrutinizes the backgrounds of school shootings and increased violence. Further, it  tries to dissuade the idea of open carry to secure public and student relation, academic freedom and protection of safe space in schools.

Source 6: Arnold, Cameron W. “Standing in the Line of Fire: Compulsory Campus Carry Laws and Hostile Speech Environments.” Seton Hall L. Rev. 49 (2018): 807.

 

The book presents a detailed literature review on the legal aspects and cases pertaining to the issue of campus carry, providing several insights on the negative impact on class interaction, open participation, decreased self-confidence. It examines several legislations related to compulsory campus carry, applying the Hostile Speech Environment framework to seek an alternative way to oppose the policy.

Source 7: Dahl, Patricia P., Gene Bonham, Jr, and Frances P. Reddington. “Community college faculty: Attitudes toward guns on campus.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice 40.8 (2016): 706-717.

In this exploratory research, the authors present a comprehensive account of students and faculty members’ opinion on the concealed carry gun policy. Surveying over 1889 community colleges from 18 states, the study points out a general consensus among teachers that indicate their opposition towards open campus carry, stating that it would increase sense of threat instead of security.

Source 8: Merino, Stephen. “God and guns: examining religious influences on gun control attitudes in the United States.” Religions 9.6 (2018): 189.

This study examines the role of religion in the incidents of mass shooting and general inclination towards gun carrying based on religious perspectives. It also presents remedial measures to mass shooting based upon religious understanding. It points out that the notions of personal responsibility and anti-structuralism inherent evangelical protestant view addressing the aggression and violence. Their opposition of state intervention in people’s lives can also be attributed by these understandings. However, the study admits the relationship between religion and gun control and gun possession is complex.

Source 9: Kerley, Kent R. “Religion and Crime: Theory, Research, and Practice.” (2018).

This is another literature that discusses the role of religion in assessing and addressing the issue of gun violence. It is a detailed anthology that explores various discourses of crime, violence, justice and their relation with religion.

Remarks

The literature gathered here deals with various aspects of open gun carrying in academic institutions. It explores the opinions of students, teachers, campus security personnel and other academic staff on both open carry and concealed carry. It addresses the issues of security and perceived threats as felt by students. Also, the literature analyzes legal and religious discourses to curb the perceived increase of gun violence. Therefore, the proposed research will incorporate all this aspects to reach a viable conclusion on the issue of open gun carrying in academic institutions.