With the risk of hyperbole, I think it is clear that the tragedy at Virginia Tech is becoming to American colleges what the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have become to America as a whole.

Some groups want to take advantage of the April shooting at Virginia Tech, and their proposals are a perpetual response to that tragedy. This reeks of dishonesty. Their position is based entirely on emotional appeal: They want students to feel that they are at risk and assert that the cure-all for reducing this risk lies in allowing concealed weapons on campus.

It is far from “playing on emotion,” however, to liken this call for arming students to a sort of vigilantism. Arming yourself in order to take the law into your own hands should not be considered a legitimate recourse. Students are being asked to look the other way while their classmates carry weapons anywhere in the name of protection. This line of thought, which considers those who carry guns to be a sort of “security force,” is dangerous and borderline criminal.

Some say that the presence of armed students acts as a preventative to crime. This slippery slope is the logic that would arm the entire world with nuclear weapons in the name of creating a sense of balance and thus protecting us all. This false sense of security is merely risk in disguise, only heightened and irrevocable.

UK is an academic environment, and it should continue to be. The effect of allowing concealed weapons on campus is entirely singular: an increase in the number of lethal weapons at the university. Those who must carry a gun to feel safe are asking UK students to find safety in walking in a crowd of gun-carrying classmates.

Guy Spriggs

English senior