Analyzing Campus Carry Legislation

This analysis is in response to a colleague's blog about the legislation for carrying firearms on school campuses in Texas. Mr. Chao, the author of the blog, did a great job of outlining the issue of concern. The issue being that there have been numerous shootings at school campuses across the United States, and not many effective countermeasure have been produced to restrict them. Mr. Chao uses his own point of view to interpret the factors that cause such tragedies, and forms a solution strategy to limit them. I really appreciated the way he took a general problem, isolated a specific issue, and strategized a solution that he truly believes would have a positive impact. He stated that the main concern which must be addressed is that the legislation currently restricts students from being able to defend themselves during an attempted school shooting. Mr. Chao made it clear that he would support any legislation that would allow for students to carry firearms for their own protection, therefore providing a progressive countermeasure to these school shootings.

I thought Mr. Chao's analysis and proposed solution are definitely warranted. Obviously these growing trends of school shootings need to be limited by some form of effective change. Mr. Chao did note that Texas has adopted a bill allowing students with concealed carry permits to bring their firearm on campus as long as it always remains in their parked vehicle. I do agree with him though, that further steps must be taken as the current bill still has some notable flaws. I believe allowing students, with the proper permits, to carry firearms on their body during school could definitely reduce the number of school shootings. I definitely support Mr. Chao's analysis and proposed solution, however, I do wish he would of provided some statistics to emphasize the need for new legislation. I think some data that correlates different States' "campus carry laws" and "frequency of school shootings" could be beneficial in emphasizing the need for a change in the current legislation. Overall, it was an interesting read and an issue that has direct relevance for our class.