Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature Review
Javier Gomez-Rodriguez
The University of Texas at El Paso

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Abstract
Gun control is a topic of controversy across the US, and now in Texas there is a new
source of controversy because of the recently passed law called the concealed carry law that
allows for people to carry guns inside Universities across Texas. This law has good intentions,
but at the same time it might have bad results. This is an issue that must be approach in an
unbiased way to have a better understanding of it. On this essay four questions will be tackled,
four questions that are design help us better understand the law of concealed carry, and to better
understand how staff and student alike are feeling about this law. This is an informative report
that aims to inform about the topic, because of this the sources used to write this report are
informative sources that support both sides of the argument, this has the objective of making the
audience more knowledgeable about the topic discussed.

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As of midnight on Monday (August 1 st, 2016), some college students in Texas could be
carrying more than just textbooks into classrooms and lecture halls some could be packing
handguns, this is the statement Trymaine Lee made for NBC News (2016). This is a law that
the state of Texas recently passed called the concealed carry law. It is a law that allows
university students to carry concealed guns inside campus, if they have a license to carry a gun.
Of course there are some areas of exclusion like sports games and kitchen areas, but for the most
part anyone who has a license to carry a gun can carry one inside campus. This law was passed
with the purpose of preventing mass shootings, and it has been the source of many controversy.
In the few months that this law has been active students and staff alike had express their feelings
towards this law, and will continue to do so for some time to come, some of them strongly agree
with the law and believe it is the right measure to take to stop mass shootings, while others
strongly disagree with the new law and state that the accidents may occur more often now that
there are guns inside campus. One of the main arguments that were used to justify the creation of
this law was that some of the mass shootings occurred in schools, and in schools no one has a
gun to defend themselves, and by the time the police came it was too late and many lives were
lost; this is one of the reasons this law came into effect on August 1, 2016. There are four
questions that are useful when analyzing this topic and will help us understand the topic in a
better way, these four questions are unbiased and are going to be analyzed the same way, without
choosing a side. The questions are the following:
What potential dangers can this law have?
What could be the benefits of students carrying guns school?
How will the students respond to this law?

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What measures can be taken to minimize potential accidents?

These are the questions that will guide this essay and help us comprehend more in depth this law,
its benefits and its disadvantages, but without choosing any side of the argument, rather to give
information and defend both sides, so people can be better informed about this topic. These four
questions will be covered from all angles with the help of other sources, including books,
websites, pictures, and a survey conducted to students in the University of Texas at El Paso
(UTEP) and by the end of this essay the reader will have a better understanding of the law and its
benefits or disadvantages.
What potential dangers can this law have?
There are many potential dangers that may arise with this law, as well as many potential
benefits. First of all, one of the main potential dangers this law can have would be that an
accident occur, no one can guaranty that no accidents will take place, even if the person took
extensive training and has a license there can still happen some things; the student may not put it
away properly in its gun holster or bag, in this case another student may grab it and accidentally
shoot it; the gun may not be properly secured and it may go off, causing some injuries to the
owner of the gun or to the people surrounding him; because there are flaws on the process to get
a gun, someone who has mental problems or that has plans to do a mass shooting can get a gun
license, and at that point he can get a gun in a legal way and use it to cause a mass shooting. The
key word on this question is potential, why? Because when that word is used it means that the
problem may never happen, there may never be any accidents or problems with guns in school,
and everything will be fine, and in that specific scenario the law will achieve its purpose of
protecting people and make them feel more secure, but at the same time it may be the opposite
and, at first, there may not be any problems with the law and everything may work fine, but

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sooner or later the problems may occur, maybe not today or tomorrow, but someday something
might happen.
Some of the potential dangers that this law might have are listed on the website of
concealed guns: pros and cons, the cons would be:
1. Permitting concealed handguns increases crime
2. Carrying a concealed handgun increases the chances of a confrontation escalating and
turning lethal
3. Second Amendment rights have limits
4. Concealed carry application requirements and background checks do not prevent
dangerous people from acquiring weapons
5. Criminals are more likely to carry a gun if they suspect that victims may also be armed
6. Public safety should be left to professionally qualified police officers, not private citizens
with little or no expert training
7. Concealed weapons laws make the non-carrying public feel less safe
This are just some cons that the law may bring to campus and to everyday life, and all of this are
potential dangers that need to be addressed. And one that may stand out of the other ones is
number five. It stands out because it says that someone that is planning to do something bad may
bring a gun to the act if he believes that people where he is going to commit his felony have
guns. If this logic is applied to our case of the universities in Texas then it is assumed that if
someone is going to commit a crime in a university (not just a mass shooting crime, it might be
other ones like steal something) he is more likely to bring a gun with him because he knows that
some students have guns, and he will also try to protect himself. In this situation the robber
might not only attempt to rob the school, but also kill someone in the process of committing the
crime.

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The truth is that there are many potential consequences to this law, and because of that
many students might be against this law, but others might be in favor of it because of the
potential benefits that the law might have.
What could be the benefits of students carrying guns school?
To answer this next question it is required to change perspective, and look at the other
side of the argument. While there are many potential dangers (some of them stated before), there
are also many potential benefits, some of this benefits may be even bigger than the problems.
The main benefit, which is also the main reason that this law was created, is that guns may be
used to save lives. One argument made by Ann Coulter in the book Gun Violence is that The
reason schools are consistently popular targets for mass murderers is precisely because of all the
idiotic Gun-Free School Zone laws. He is right in many ways, if there is someone who wants
to commit a mass shooting, this person will more likely choose a place where he knows that
people are not going to fight back, a place where people do not have guns or other weapons. If
this person chooses to go on a rampage on the street a cop might be nearby, if he chooses a
shopping mall the guards might have weapons or other civilians as well; one popular target is a
school, because there are laws that prevent guns inside schools then students will not have guns
because it would be illegal for them to carry one and might get in trouble. Here is where this law
comes into place, because students are now allowed to carry guns to school, they will be safer. If
there is someone committing a mass shooting then that person might be stopped by the students
before it is too late. Police response in that case is not fast enough, by the time the police shows
up to the scene the shooter may kill dozens of people, students and faculty alike. Students
deserve a chance to fight back, maybe a student is not able to stop the person committing the
crime, but at least they got the chance to stop him and were not killed like cattle without a chance

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to fight back, and if you take into consideration that is not just one student with a gun, then
multiple student have better than chance, as opposed to one student, of stopping him before he
can take many lives.
On the same webpage as before, concealed guns: pros and cons, there were the cons
stated above, but also the pros related to concealed guns, and direct contradictions to the cons,
the pros for concealed guns are the following:
1. Concealed handguns deter crime
2. Responsible citizens should have the right to arm themselves against criminals with guns
3. The right to carry concealed handguns is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the
US Constitution
4. Most adults who carry concealed handguns are law-abiding and do not misuse their
firearms
5. Carrying a concealed handgun could help stop a public shooting spree
6. Concealed handgun protect people who cannot always rely in police forces for protection
7. The majority of Americans support allowing the concealed carry of handguns
All of this pros are the direct counterpart of the cons previously stated. The one that stands out of
the others in this case is again number five, because it is the main reason this law was created.
And it is the main benefit that this law may bring. All of this are valid pros, but the fact that
someone might be able to save multiple lives might be the most important reason for this law to
exist. Human live is very valuable, and if there is a chance to preserve it then we need to take it.
Besides the right to carry a gun was given to us by our Founding Fathers, by writing it into the
Second Amendment of the Constitution, so why is there any problem in letting adult citizens
carry their own guns to school? If that is what they want then let them carry them, some people
feel safer with their guns.

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There are multiple pros and cons regarding this law, and so far people have strongly
express their feelings regarding this law, everyone has their own opinion and thought, and there
has been a lot of controversy surrounding the concealed carry law.
How will the students respond to this law?
Student and faculty alike have expressed their feelings, and to gather some data a survey
was conducted to students attending UTEP. On this survey ten statements were given, and
students were asked to answer with numbers from one to five (one being that they strongly
disagree with the statement, and five that they strongly agree with it) the statements were the
following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

The law will bring more problems than to solve them

The law will help save more lives
There will be no accidents in campus (like a gun being accidentally fired on campus)
I feel safer in campus with this law
I am well informed and know what the law states
Since a gun license is required, I trust that people with guns know how to use them
I hope that this law could be implemented on all universities across the US
I have encountered problems with this law (or people with guns) since it was

implemented
9. My way of treating other people has changed after this law was implemented
10. The campus feels the same after this law was implemented
After the survey there was another question asked, if they personally support the law of if they
rather not have it; from that question 60% of people rather not have the law, 20% like the law
and support it, and the remaining 20% are neutral to the law and are not against or in favor of the
law. The rest of the results can be found in the table 1 below:

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Table 1: Reasults by percentage

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

For the most part the results are even, except for number eight and nine. Number eight states that
if people have had encounters with a gun, or people that have guns; 70% of people answered
with a no, which means they have not had a problem with guns. Statement 9 says if this law has
affected the way they see and treat other students, the results go mostly for a no, but a small
percentage agrees with this statement. The overall survey is more negative than positive, but it is
negative by a small margin. It is like the newspaper article written for the New York Times
(2016), by Dave Philipps; on his article he interviewed several students with different opinions,
one of the students said I wear it pretty much whenever I can, its not that Im afraid of getting
attacked all the time. Its more like a fire extinguisher or a seatbelt. You always have it and hope
you never have to use it. If I call 911, it might be 10 minutes before they get here. It might be
more. Its nice to know you have ultimate responsibility for your safety. He is a student that
supports the law because he sees it as a safety measure, while other student said in the same

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article said that she disagrees with the law because it blocks free speech because people might
not say something because they might be afraid someone else has a gun, and she said that If we
cant have those kinds of conversations without fear, what is the point? she added, I probably
would have gone somewhere else. When she realized that the carry gun law was coming to the
University of Texas she studied in. overall the feedback seems to be negative, but looking at the
statement number 5 of the survey, which asks if the people know the law in depth, majority of
the people answer negatively, which means that not many people know what the law really does.
This is a serious problem, because someone may think that now anybody can bring a gun to
school, and the law states that only people with a gun license, what if someone gets a gun from
their parents and brings it to school? He may not know how to use it properly and because he
was not well informed he may cause an accident. Other people may not know that there are
exclusion zones where no guns are permitted at any times, and they might get in trouble for
having a gun in that area.
The potential benefits and potential dangers will always be there and people will always
be in disagreement, but one thing that is very important and the great majority of the people will
agree on is that now that the law has passed measures have to be taken to prevent accidents from
happening.
What measures can be taken to minimize potential accidents?
This is a very important question because the fact is that the law is now active, and it
does not matter if people agree with it or not, it will remain active. There has to be some
measures taken to prevent accidents from happening. One main measure is the information, if
students and faculty are informed about what the law states and how a gun works, then the risk
of having an accident diminishes. Schools may do this in different ways: gun seminars, hosting

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talks, having workshops, sending bulletins, or having hand to hand trainings, among other
options. This will help college students be more informed and have a better understanding of
what is a gun, how it works, and how we need to treat a gun, because it is not something that it
can be taken lightly.
The university might also put extra laws that will make carrying a gun more secure, like a
rule that prohibits people from putting guns in their backpacks, where they can accidentally be
fired, or a rule where it must be 100% hidden and the person cannot take it out unless is an
emergency. This are just some of the measures that can be taken to prevent accidents, but one
thing that we can all do is to use common sense, a gun should not be used as a toy, people should
not be showing off their gun, or waving it around, or even firing it just for fun. If everyone
follows the proper procedures of having a gun then everyone will be safer.
Conclusion
On this essay many topics were covered, the potential dangers and benefits of the law, as
well as how students had reacted to the law, and what are some of the measures that can be taken
to prevent accidents. Many times we might act different because someone has a gun, or maybe
we might feel that there are many potential dangers to the law, or the other way around and
believe that there are more benefits that dangers. And even though many people do not want this
law to be active, the truth is that the law is very active, so staying aware of what is happening is
important. Even though there might never be an end to the gun control and concealed gun
arguments, there are always safety measures that can be taken to prevent accidents, because it
seems like guns are not going anywhere anytime soon.

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References
Philipps, D. (2016, August 18). What university of Texas is saying about concealed guns. The
New York Times, pp. A16.
Image Retrieved from: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/ut-austinto-allow-handguns.jpg
Gerdes, L. I. (2011). Gun violence. United States of America: Greenhaven Press.
Roleff, T. L. (1997). Gun control. United States of America. Greenhaven Press.
Lee, T. (2016). New Texas law allows college students to carry guns on campus. Retrieved from
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-texas-law-allows-college-students-carryguns-campus-n620911
Author unknown. (2016). Should adults have the right to carry a concealed handgun?. Retrieved
from http://concealedguns.procon.org/
Survey conducted by Javier Gomez-Rodriguez from 10/24/2016 to 11/04/2016
Vertuno J. (2016). Texas will allow guns on campus starting august 1, heres how they think it
will work. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-will-allow-guns-oncampus-starting-august-1-heres-how-they-think-it-will-work-2016-7