Negative Consequences Of Campus Carry

As a college student, a new law will soon take effect that will affect me personally: campus carry. The University of Texas stated that in the state of Texas, “S.B. 11, also known as the ‘campus carry’ law... provides that license holders may carry a concealed handgun throughout university campuses, starting Aug. 1, 2016” (“Campus Carry”). Individuals that support campus carry believe that an armed student or faculty member could stop a potential shooting. Writers Adam Nagourney and Julie Turkewitz from the New York Times wrote an article explaining that an armed college student is most likely not skilled enough to use a fire arm to fend off an attacker. In their article, they gave a quote from Joan Neuberger, a professor of Russian culture,
The Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California-Los Angeles released a study showing that “stress and depression is on the rise, with students rating their emotional health at the lowest level in 30 years” (Adams). Also, “nearly 1 in 10 students in last fall's incoming freshman class reported feeling ‘frequently’ depressed—the highest level since 1988 and an increase of 3.4 percentage points from 2009” (Adams). Interestingly enough, history has shown a link between mass killers and depression. Jack Levin, who is a professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern presented that “‘most mass killers have suffered some kind of chronic depression… they externalize responsibility, blaming everybody but themselves for their failings’” (Levin). Most of the time, “something just horrendous happens… and [the killer] decides to get even” (Levin). Stress from grades could result in a student going over the edge. Levin explained, something big happening to an individual could set them off. Of course, suffering from depression does not automatically make someone a