As we are roughly a year away from guns being allowed on campus, I would like to take a look back at some of the prominent arguments that were made for concealed guns on campus.

Number one: It’s in the Constitution

This is somewhat a funny one for people to bring up. To begin, the situation on guns in school was not something that was foreseen by our forefathers. We tend to forget that when they thought of this, the playing field was pretty even for all situations. The nation had just finished a war, and it made sense to want to protect themselves from any new tyrants that might arise.

This is a pretty rational train of thought if you consider it from ancient times. Today, it’s not that simple or easy to breakdown. Whether or not I feel safe in campus is entirely up to me. I can choose to believe that highly trained police officers and personnel are prepared to protect me at all times, but I might also choose to believe that if a mad man decides to shoot up the school there is only a limited number of first responders who could save me. The university is a big, complex and scary place to be if you consider the amount of people who could waltz in with a gun (license or not) and is a potential gunman.

Going back to the time of our forefathers, mass school shootings were not a thing, and we didn’t quite understand the love that the country would develop for its guns. Once again, it was a matter of perspective and how you particularly feel about the current situation.

Number two: We need to defend ourselves

This one is hard to argue against or for. In a perfect world, there would be no need to defend ourselves from each other. Instead, we all would be friends, hold hands and probably have fun or something like that. In our world, we often ask the question, “What if?” What if someone assaults me, rapes me or shoots me? Some may call this fear mongering, but it’s not that far from the truth.

People in this nation have legitimate fears about other people and it’s something that we have to deal with. It’s hard to imagine the apocalyptic scenario that could result from everyone fearing random passing strangers because they might be armed, but for some people it’s too real.

Case in point are the different police departments across our great nation. If I learned anything from the Ferguson incidents it was that our police departments are armed like a small private military company.

Makes me wonder, could there be a correlation with the fact that private citizens could potentially be armed? Probably, but I am no expert, the only evidence I have is that in the case that we actually tried to overturn our government, we would be up against drones, armored-personnel-carrier and top of the line technological weapons. Very different than the scenario our forefathers faced, where everyone had the same muskets and the same boats.

If this column seems simplistic and a tease for something much more in-depth, there is a very good reason for it. The gun dilemma boils down to one thing, people. We can’t simply go about expecting the best from the situation when people are involved. If I have a gun and I am perfectly sane person, it won’t matter if the mad one amongst us goes berserk. It won’t matter if a politician stood at a podium and pleaded for everyone to understand why guns are something we need. What will matter are the actions and the results.

I once was told that the blood of brave patriots wrote our history and Constitution; I don’t doubt that, but now I wonder if we are starting to stain that memory with the blood of our own innocent citizens? Feedback, we are listening.

Alonso Moreno may be reached at [email protected].