Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Campus Carry in Texas Tech University

                                                                          Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the views of Texas Tech community about the campus carry law. The participants were 148 undergraduate and graduate students, and faculty at TTU. Also, each member of the survey team interviewed 12 participants. Most participants were Americans, but others were allowed to participate. The data were collected through a survey that has 26 questions, which was divided among eight international students, one teacher’s assistant and the instructor of the class. The main result of the survey showed that the majority of the TTU students and faculty were against the campus carry law. Also, this study showed that the majority of TTU population believe that carrying guns would make women safer. However, the majority of women at TTU were against campus carry. Also, Texan participants supported the campus carry law more than non-Texans.  

            Keywords: campus carry, guns, students, campus, Texas Tech University.
Ebtehal Alhashem

                                                                           Introduction

            The issue of gun control is not new, but the discussion about it arises frequently.  Also, the gun control issue is covered in the media every time some bad event happens that is related to guns and death.  The new issue about gun control is campus carry.  Campus carry is one of the controversial issues that is discussed these days across the U.S, especially among students, staff and faculty.  The campus carry issue has become controversial in Texas, even though other states have done it and allowed individuals who have concealed handgun licenses to carry weapons on campus (Kaufman, 2015).  Therefore, by next September 2016, Texas Tech University will begin to apply this new law and allow faculty, staff and students who are 21 years old and older to carry guns on campus (Michael, 2015).  As a result, Texas Tech University will provide guidelines this October to regulate guns’ use and identify the restricted areas that do not permit carrying guns.  Also, Texas Tech University will provide classes for concealed handgun license holders to learn more information about the new law (Michael, 2015).

            The argument about the campus carry issue is about whether the new law would make students safer on campus or would increase danger.  People who support the campus carry law believe that they can protect themselves when they need to in any dangerous situation such as during robbery and assault.  Also, they do not think that the campus carry law would increase murders, because most Texas Tech students are under 21 years old, so they do not have concealed handgun licenses.  On the other hand, individuals who are against the campus carry law believe that this law would increase danger, assaults and robbery because criminals will use guns to do whatever they want.  Therefore, campus would not be a safe place for students. 

            Texas Tech University has 35,859 students in fall 2015, according to the Texas Tech website (2015).  29,237 students are undergraduates and the total number of graduate students is 6,045.  Also, there are 2029 international students on campus (TTU, 2015) who might have heard about campus carry law and maybe some of them are interested to know more about how American students in Texas Tech think about this issue. 

            As international students, we decided to do research that is related to our writing class.  We were curious to know the differences in opinions among undergraduates, graduates and faculty.  We were aware that there was some difference between male and female students about campus carry.  Also, we wanted to know the different points of view between Republicans and Democrats.  We were interested to know if there was a relationship between students who are from big cities and what they believe about the campus carry law.

            We carried out a survey to figure out Americans’ opinions and whether they supported or opposed the campus carry law.  Although the number of participants in this survey was not a big number and it might not be representative of all the Texas Tech population’s opinions, the answers gave us a sense about how American students at Texas Tech thought about this issue.

Literature Review and Hypothesis

Campus carry is a nationwide problem and people have two opinions about it.  There are people who support this idea, while others reject it.  Texas is one of the states whose legislature passed the campus carry law, and universities will allow those who have concealed gun licenses to carry their guns on campus.  According to Kaufman (2015), 80 percent of students would not feel safe if universities’ populations have guns.  Also, 90 percent of faculty are against the campus carry law (Kaufman, 2015).  According to Alford, the decision to allow campus carry should be taken from colleges’ populations, not from people who left college a long time ago (Alford, 2015).  Cattanach mentioned that most students do not want guns on campus (Cattanach, 2015). 

On the other hand, Madison Welch said that universities in Texas would not be unsafe places, because people who have licensed guns tend to use guns less than those who do not have them (Welch, 2015).  Supporters also believe that having guns would allow individuals to protect themselves from sexual assault (Kaufman, 2015).  Also, we believe that the administration of Texas Tech is against the campus carry law.  According to Morgan, Texas Tech would need $7 million dollars as additional expenses for safety procedures (Morgan, 2015).  Reindle supports the idea that universities’ administrators do not agree with the campus carry law. 

Hypothesis: Therefore, based on what we have read, we predicted that the majority of students and faculty at Texas Tech University would be against the campus carry law.

            Republicans and Democrats have different opinions about guns.  Our general information about both parties was that the Republicans were usually supported carrying and using guns more than Democrats. According to McCarthy, Republicans tend to believe that having guns will increase safety at home more than Democrats.  The percentage of Republicans who support this idea was 81%, while 41% of Democrats do, according to 2014 statistics (McCarthy, 2014).  Also, 35% of Republicans strongly support the Campus Carry law, which is more than Democrats with only 8% (Concealed Carry…, 2015).

Hypothesis: based on this information, we believed that Republicans in the TTU community were more likely than Democrats to feel that carrying guns on campus would make them safer.

            In addition, we believed that there was a difference between male and female opinions about the campus carry law.  Women tend to avoid situations that are related to violence and they are less confident about using guns.  According to Awr Hawkins, women should not have guns on campus because women are not as strong as men and there is a higher chance to grab guns from them (Hawkins, 2015).  The increasing number of weapons will increase the number of female murders consequently.  Also, because women tend to be threatened by and scared of shooting more than men, women in general would be against campus carry. 

Hypothesis: based on this information, we suspected that Texas Tech female students would more likely be against campus carry than male students.

 It has been said that Texas is a state of cowboys who like to own guns, especially people who live on ranches or farms.  Also, Texans tend to support carrying and using, especially people who grow up with parents who use guns.  Because the TTU campus is in Texas and I think the majority of TTU students are from Texas, I thought most students would say they would carry guns on campus when they were allowed to.

Hypothesis: I believed that Texans at TTU community would be more likely to support campus carry law and carry guns on campus than non-Texans.

Family has a strong influence on our beliefs.  The ideas that we have and our response to events are influenced by our families.  Therefore, I think our opinions about campus carry law depend on how we are raised.  People who were raised in families that own guns or use guns for hunting tend to see carrying guns on campus as not a big issue, and it is like carrying cellphones. Also, I think people who were using guns during their childhood with guidance of their parents would be more likely to carry weapons on campus and would be more confident to use them without worry they need practice.

Hypothesis: I suspected that students who were raised in homes that had guns would be more likely to carry guns on campus.

Therefore, we conducted a survey for TTU students, faculty and staff to know what the Texas Tech population believes about the Campus Carry law and whether our hypotheses would be right or wrong. 

Methods

Campus carry is an important issue for us as international students at Texas Tech University, and because of that we were wondering how American students at TTU felt about this issue.  Therefore, we did a survey for the TTU community; only American students, faculty and staff were chosen to answer our survey.  The survey had 26 questions. Each student was responsible for surveying 12, 6 males and 6 females.  The participants were from undergraduate and graduate students and faculty.  Also, all participants were to be Americans and international students were not included in the focus group.  The class consisted of 8 students, one teacher assistant, and our instructor.  Our agreement was that the survey focused only on the TTU community.  The total number of students that we surveyed was 148, which is a small number and not representative of the more than 35,000 students at TTU.  We threw away one survey because the answers were not complete.  Most of the survey questions were Yes or No format.

            We asked TTU students about their place of origin and where they grew up, such as ranch or farm, large city, or small town.  Also, we asked if there were guns where they grew up to figure out if there was a relationship between supporting campus carry law and the desire to carry guns on campus with individuals who grew up in homes that had hand guns.  Also, the survey included a question about the political party that they identified themselves with, their gender, and if they were from Texas or from other states.  One of the questions that might not be related to guns was about if they smoked or not.  I think this question is interesting because smokers and people who carry guns are both risk takers.  It might be that smokers who do not care about their health and losing their lives earlier, tend to carry guns without being concerned about the dangerous weapons that they carry.  Therefore, the result will show if there is a relationship between smoking and carrying guns.  One of the questions was about to identify the participants’ college.  However, the number of participants was small, and that did not cover all colleges.  Therefore, we could not figure out if there was a relationship between campus carry beliefs and colleges.

Results

            We were curious about what the TTU community would think about campus carry and whether our hypothesis about campus carry would be right or wrong.  Therefore, we did a survey that was related to carrying guns on campus and to answer our hypotheses.  The first hypothesis was about whether the majority of students and faculty at TTU would be against the campus carry law.  The first question that we wrote to answer whether our hypothesis was right or wrong was, “Will you get a gun and /or carry on campus when you are allowed to?”  The result of the first question was 27% of males answered yes and 70% answered no, and 12% of females answered yes and 88% answered no.  The second question that answered this hypothesis was “Are you more likely to carry a gun, if you know that more people are carrying guns?”  The result was that 32% of the participants answered yes and 68% answered no.  The third question that also confirmed this hypothesis was, “Do you think women are safer if they carry guns?” The result was that 56% answered yes and 44% answered no.  Furthermore, 100% of faculty who participated in the survey were against campus carry.  Therefore, we were right.  The majority of students and faculty at TTU were against the campus carry law.  However, the majority believed that women would be safer.

            The second hypothesis was about whether the Republicans in the TTU community were more likely than Democrats to feel that carrying guns on campus would make them safer.  The question that we wrote to answer whether our hypothesis was right or wrong was, “Which party do you identify with?”  The result for this question was that 31% were Republicans and 20% were Democrats.  Also, in answering the question, “will gun carry make campus safer?” the result was 76% of Republicans supported campus carry and 10% of Democrats supported campus carry.  Therefore, we were right. Republicans were more likely to feel that campus carry would make them safer than Democrats.

The third hypothesis was about whether TTU female students would more likely be against campus carry than male students.  As a result, our hypothesis was right; women would more likely be against campus carry.  However, women would feel that carrying guns would make them safer.  The question that we wrote to answer whether our hypothesis was right or wrong was “Are you male or female?”  The result of this question was that the total number of females who filled out the survey was 72, and there were 76 males.  The second question that answered our hypothesis was “Will you get a gun and/ or carry on campus when you are allowed to?”  We found that 88% of females answered, no they would not get guns, and 12% answered yes, while 70% of male answered, no they would not get guns, and 27% answered yes.  Also, the question that we used to answer this hypothesis was, “Do you think women are safer if they carry guns?” The result was 51% of women answered yes they think women are safer with guns and 49% answered no. also, 60% of mail answered yes they think women are safer with guns and 40% answered no.

The fourth hypothesis was about whether Texans at TTU would be more likely to support the campus carry law and carry guns on campus than non-Texans.  The question that we wrote to answer whether our hypothesis was right or wrong was to choose between from Texas or from USA, not Texas.  We found that 60% of Americans were from Texas and 40% not from Texas.  The percentage of Texans who were willing to carry guns was 25% and the percentage of non-Texans who were willing to carry guns was 17%. Therefore, our hypothesis was right, because the percentage of Texans at TTU who were willing to carry guns was higher than participants from other states who were willing to carry guns on campus.

The last hypothesis was about whether students who were raised in homes that had guns would be more likely to carry guns on campus.  The question that answered this hypothesis was, “Were there guns in the home you grew up in?” We found that 52% answered yes and 48% answered no.  Also, we found that the percentage of those who grew up with guns who said they would carry guns was 27% and the percentage of those who grew up with guns who said they did not carry guns was 73%.  Therefore, our hypothesis was wrong, because the majority of participants who grow up with guns who did not carry guns on the TTU campus was higher than those who grew up with guns, but would carry guns.

Discussion

            Campus carry is one of the issues that is discussed at Texas Tech University these days. There are different opinions about this issue. Some people support the campus carry law because this law would allow to students to defend themselves during a shooting, whereas some people are against this law because it would increase the shooting on campuses.  Therefore, we did a survey to find out how the TTU community thought about this issue.  We were curious about whether the TTU community would be against or would support the campus carry law.

The first hypothesis was that we thought that the majority of the TTU community would be against the campus carry.  We found that although the majority believe carrying guns would make an individual safer, the fact was that we were right that the majority of the TTU community was against campus carry.  This result showed interesting information, because everyone trusted himself or herself, but they did not trust others.  The reason could be that campus carry would increase murders on campus and campus carry would encourage TTU students to have guns, which could make the TTU campus more dangerous.  Also, the survey showed that all faculty were against the campus carry law and they did not trust students to carry guns in the classroom.  The reasons may be that faculty spends long hours on campus and they may feel that students who get low grades consider them enemies. 

            The second hypothesis was that we thought that Republicans in the TTU community were more likely than Democrats to feel that carrying guns on campus would make them safer. The fact was that we were right, because we found that Republicans supported campus carry more than Democrats.  The reason is that Republicans were more likely than Democrats to feel that campus carry would make them safer.  This result was expected because usually Republicans support guns more than Democrats in the society.  The interesting information was that most participants considered themselves independent in Texas, which is considered a Republican state, especially since the majority of participants were from Texas.  The reason that most participants called themselves independent may be that they are still too young to decide their political views.     

The third hypothesis was that we thought that TTU female students would more likely be against campus carry than male students.  The fact was that we were right, because most women who answered the survey were not going to get guns.  The reason could be that women are more likely to be against violence.  Also, men were generally more confident and courageous to carry and use guns than women.  On the other hand, most people on the TTU campus believed that women would be safer because they could protect themselves with guns.  

            The fourth hypothesis was that we thought that Texans at TTU would be more likely to support the campus carry law and carry guns on campus than non-Texans.  The fact was that we were right, because we found that the percentage of Texans who were likely to carry guns was greater than the percentage of others who were willing to carry guns.  The reason could be that Texas is considered a Republican state and Republicans support the freedom to carry guns in American society.  Also, carrying guns is part of Texans’ culture, especially for people who live on ranches or farms.

The last hypothesis was that we thought that students who were raised in homes that had guns would be more likely to carry guns on campus.  The fact was that we were wrong, because the percentage of students who grew up with guns and were more likely to carry guns was less than that of students who grew up with guns, but would not carry guns.  The reason might be that they know how dangerous guns are, and know they should be responsible to have guns.  Also, students who grew up in houses that had guns may have had bad experiences that were related with guns, and they were more aware of the negative effect that could happen on campus when the campus carry law applies and most students carry guns.    

Although the number of students who participated in this survey was small, it gave us information about TTU students’ beliefs that are related to campus carry.  Also, this survey was not representative of the TTU campus and did not cover the different religions or races. In the future, the survey should be bigger, and should include all colleges.  Also, I think it would be interesting if we did a survey that covered international students and whether they would carry guns when they see their American friends have guns.  I am curious if there are differences between international students about the campus carry law and if their opinions about carrying guns on campus would be influenced by their cultures and background. 

Conclusion

            Campus carry law is one of the issues that students are concerned about because it is related to their safety. After the campus carry law passed in Texas, universities were to allow students, faculty and staff who have concealed handgun licenses and who are 21 years old and older to carry guns on campus. Therefore, universities started to make procedures about implementing the law. For example, campus should consider several issues before the law begins to apply next September 2016, such as free gun zones, providing safety lockers for guns and offering forums to learn more about this law.

The argument about campus carry law is between those who support carrying guns on campus and those who are against this law. People who support campus carry law believe that carrying guns would make them safer, whereas people who are against campus carry law believe that campus carry law would make campuses less safe and crimes would increase. Therefore, we did research about the campus carry law and collected data through a survey. The focus group was 148 American students and faculty members from Texas Tech University.  Although the number of participants was not representative of Texas Tech University population that has 35, 859 students, it gave a sense about what the TTU community thinks about this issue.

In beginning of the class, I was worried about doing survey because it was totally new experience for me.  However, I have not encounter any difficulties with finding participants who were willing to help me and answer the survey.  Although I was responsible to find only 12 participants, it gave me experience to do bigger number of participants in the future.  Also, this experience gave an idea of American students who I have ever get contact with them since I am international student and I know American people only through movies. 

The main result showed that the majority of the TTU community was against the campus carry law, and they believed that carrying guns would reduce the safety on campus.  Also, all faculty were against this law which showed that faculty would not feel safe to be in class with students that carry guns.  I think the impact of the campus carry law will be obvious after applying the law in September 2016.  It will show the real result whether the effect will be positive or negative.  Also, I wonder if students who were against campus carry would carry guns after seeing guns on campus as something normal.  I wonder if faculty would accept for their students to have guns in classrooms in the beginning of applying this law and if faculty would change their minds about guns after a year or more.  I think the Texas Tech administration would be stricter or more lenient about the way that they apply this law on campus depending on the positive or negative events that might happen on campus.  The faculty at TTU should have more power and influence on the application of the campus carry law, because they spend hours and years on campus as their work place.

            I hope the campus carry law would not change the safety on campus, and international students would not feel worried about this issue, which might impact their desire to study in states that pass this law. Although the campus carry law might increase the violence or crimes on campus, it would provide the opportunities for the TTU population to defend themselves instead of watching someone killing others, similar to what happened in the most recent shooting cases.  In my personal opinion, weapons should not be allowed for every person, and weapons should be only for police officers, similar to my country, Saudi Arabia.  Unfortunately, that is impossible in the United States, because the National Raffle Association is influential in the U.S.A.

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