Concealed Carry Research Paper

I-Search Paper on Concealed Carry
INTRODUCTION
The topic of concealed carry is something that a lot of people are talking about. Turn on the news, the radio, read the newspaper, surf the internet and the topic of conceal carry will be discussed. The reason it is so highly discussed is due to the effect that conceal carry will have on everyone regardless of race, age, and socio-economic background. As a resident of Illinois, the most recent state to adopt concealed carry, there continues to be much concern about how it will be monitored and enforced. Will there be an increase in public safety with the adoption of concealed carry or will there be an increase in gun related injuries and fatalities.
RESEARCH PROCESS The research process
Only Washington, D.C. prevents concealed carry except for both active and retired law enforcement officers. This article explores both sides of the concealed carry debate. For example, between May 2007 and March 2010 statistics reveal that nine law enforcement officers and 142 non-law enforcement individuals were killed by concealed carry handgun permit holders across the nation. It is also statistically significant to note that the majority of those who legally carry concealed do not abuse their rights and are non-violent. While it may seem obvious that criminals are less likely to attack someone that they believe might be armed, it is also important to emphasize that handguns are not an effective form of self-defense often resulting in injury and death for the individual carrying. A concealed handgun significantly increases the chances of a confrontation escalating in violence to a lethal degree. The risk of suicide is magnified as a vast majority of all suicide attempts are done in times impulsiveness where not only owning, but carrying a handgun gives an individual a method to act. There are those proponents of concealed carry who will tout the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a proof that citizens, who are to bear arms for a well-regulated militia, should be entitled to personal carry. Those on the anti concealed
Of the 1,649 students surveyed at fifteen public colleges in the Midwest, 78% reported that they did not support the carrying of handguns on college campuses. Most students reported that not only would they not feel safer on campus; they were concerned about the potential for an increased risk of suicides and homicides. Ohio is a part of 49 states that have concealed carry weapons laws and one of 22 states that ban carrying a concealed weapon on a college campus. “I think for the majority of people this (concealed handguns) is not on their radar screen because it is so absurd,” said Amy Thompson, who is a professor in the department of public health at the University of Toledo who led the study. “Why bring guns into the learning environment? When I talk to my students (about concealed carry) they say ‘Are you kidding me? I don’t want a kid sitting next to me in class with a backpack with a gun in it.” Thompson, who is a part of a team of researchers, conducted a survey with the faculty and university presidents to see who supported the concealed carry and who didn’t. “As a public health professor I wanted to look at who is pushing this and is it something that really, truly everyone wants,” she said. College students need to be aware of the value of a concealed carry weapon because a college campus is no different than a small city. Kurt Mueller,