Gun-Free Zones are for Victims

Finals are stressful enough. But just imagine taking your exams knowing that a fellow student threatened to shoot up an entire classroom in a nearby building just hours earlier.

That’s exactly what I experienced a few weeks ago as I was wrapping up my first semester as a graduate student at the University of Miami.

This situation came on the heels of the mass shooting tragedy in San Bernardino, California, and on the same day that a neighboring campus, Florida International University, received threats as well.

It was starting to get dark as I walked across campus to my class. Everyone had the same look on their face. “Could you be the shooter?” passersby seemed to ask with their eyes. I had the same heightened sense of vigilance. Glancing at each individual, I thought: “Could he be a danger?”

While the university system ultimately declared the situation defused and handled, I sat in my tiny classroom for three hours, nervous and on edge. I felt unprotected and helpless — a sitting duck.

While the university system ultimately declared the situation defused and handled, I sat in my tiny classroom for three hours, nervous and on edge. I felt unprotected and helpless — a sitting duck. Had there been an escalation, I wouldn’t have known what to do.

While I’ve always been in favor of the Second Amendment, the notion of helplessness I felt during the evening of my final exams has made me an even stronger proponent of the right to defend oneself, including on campus.

At no point did I feel like the man-made rule of a gun-free zone would protect my life. Sitting there, trying to collect my thoughts, I so desperately wished that I had a gun, just in case a real danger presented itself. How dare a bureaucrat take away my right to keep myself safe and instead make me into a potential victim?

Related: ‘I’m Thinking of Buying a Gun’ 

Never again will I allow myself to be put in such a situation. This Christmas, I’ll be “gifting” myself a concealed weapons permit.

Ask yourself this: If you were in my shoes the other night at the University of Miami, but things had taken a turn for the worst, would you have rather had a gun in your hand, or a gun-banning rule written on a piece of paper?

This piece is part of a CampusZette series exploring the culture, oddities, and experiences of students on college campuses through their eyes.