I’m not going to give you the details, but I will tell you that I was 15. It was unexpected. I was in the middle of a classroom with my teacher turned to the chalkboard for a moment. Then, it happened. At first, I froze. Then, I was angry.
At no time did I want to shoot him.
You can talk to me about the importance of self-protection all you want. You can tell me that it’s your right to have a gun under the Constitution, which is something that I generally believe. But the idea that the incredibly violent action of sexual assault warrants the use of firearms on our campus is incredibly inappropriate and wildly extreme. Sexual assault is, indeed, a violent act. But shooting someone with a firearm will not make my trauma better.
If you want to protect the rights of people on this campus, teach men not to rape women. Have a discussion with public safety about the importance of secure facilities. Create better security in public places on our campus by creating a more secure check-in system to the library. Install alert systems throughout the campus to quickly alert public safety to suspicious activity.
But the instant you allow concealed weapons on this campus, you are not only creating an undue burden on the Capital University police department as a whole, but you are also creating an inherently threatening environment that does not solve the issue at hand. You are creating a hostile environment where anyone could have a weapon meant to kill in an institution that is meant to educate.
You want to protect me? You want to create positive change and enforce campus safety?
Don’t allow students to have weapons to kill. Take it from a sexual assault survivor: you’re doing it wrong.
