Guns on Campus

In Wednesday the 29^th’s Dallas Morning News, Arthur Markman, a psychologist and professor at the University of Texas, argued against allowing students or staff to carry concealed firearms on campus. After the shooting and other events on the UT campus on Tuesday, this topic has taken on increased relevance. Markman gives two main reasons in support of his opinion. First, he brings up the idea of abstraction. It is easy to think of armed suspects as the enemy in our minds, but in actuality it would probably be much more difficult to spot a shooter. In a shooting situation, there are large numbers of people running around, making it difficult to spot the armed suspect; furthermore, if other civilians are armed as well, someone might mistake an innocent bystander with a gun as the suspect. Markman's second reason is the tendency of many to choke under pressure. In a high pressure situation, people's working memory declines, making it harder to assess the situation and develop a coherent, sensible reaction. In addition, civilians with guns would probably not have a great deal of training in stressful situations, thus making an accident more likely. I agree with Markman's thesis for the same reasons. As we saw Tuesday, and learned from the tragic Virginia Tech shooting, the best way to deal with these situations is through preventive measures and proper training of the authorities. The several different law enforcement agencies in Austin had trained for this type of crisis and thus were able to handle it effectively. Furthermore, arming people that do not have the necessary training, especially under stressful situations, could very easily result in additional injuries or deaths. For these reasons, I do not support allowing guns on campus.

I believe the author is very credible. As a professor for UT, he must be intelligent and know his area of study well, and the fact that he is a psychologist adds to his credibility (especially since this editorial involves analysis of how people behave in certain circumstances). I think this article is aimed at anyone old enough to vote on the issue, as it attempts to persuade the reader that guns should not be allowed on campus. It might be more aimed at people that support guns on campus, since it gives several specific reasons attacking that stance. Overall, I thought the author was persuasive in his argument.