To the Editor:

After reading a Letter to the Editor in your March 18 publication, my concern for firearms on campus has reached a new high.

As a student on a college campus, I believe I should be protected, and be allowed to protect myself from any event that may occur, whether violent or non-violent.

But as a campus employee, I fear the thought of students being allowed to carry, and whether or not they are certified to make a life or death call within a matter of 30 seconds.

Many of us feel safer being able to defend ourselves, but we don’t feel we are capable of taking a human life, or at least, are less capable than a trained member of law enforcement.

In Mr. Daniel Cox’s letter, he stated, “I don’t go anywhere without at least one gun on my person, sometimes two, depending on what side of town I am going to and what time of day it is.”

I think with further research, not only would Cox be more intelligible on the crime rates on any “side of town” Oklahoma City possesses, but also would the general public.

Comparable to many major cities, and cities undergoing steep renovations, Oklahoma City is still considered a generally safe city.

Comparable to my hometown of Philadelphia, PA, I have felt safer here in my five years of residency than any other state thus far.

The question now should change from when to why; why do we need to allow students to carry weapons on campuses in Oklahoma?

How many campus shootings must the state endure for its residents to consider this movement?

And, is it completely necessary for a campus to allow students to carry when it’s already paying for a security, or police, force to protect us?

It seems that this measure is allowing for situations of gun violence to erupt, rather than to be a preventative measure.

Regardless of who is right or wrong, who agrees or doesn’t, everyone must first ask: if you carry a firearm, are you ready to take another human life, to play God with a bullet?

And if you do not choose to carry, but hide under the desk on a school lock down, will you ever look at your chemistry lab partner the same way after you witness him splatter someone’s brains across the chalkboard?