Well, speaking as a college shooting survivor, I think I have no more credibility on this issue than any of you (however, some of you may disagree with that idea, so I'll post my response anyway).

The right to defend ourselves is one of our most essential. For those of us who are American, this is epitomized by the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, which states: "A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". This alone should settle the legal aspects to the discussion: public institutions (including public schools/colleges), due to being supported by taxpayer dollars (without being given the choice to back out), must follow the rules of the country. Being that the Constitution is the supreme law of the land, government policy cannot disallow guns in any public institutions (including colleges). Hope I've cleared that up for you.

Now, on to the reasons people should be allowed to carry weapons on a private college campus. This is where my experience as a college shooting survivor kicks in. I was in the Atrium when Kimveer Gil burst through the front doors of Dawson College in Montreal, Canada and opened fire. It was an intense atmosphere, let me tell you. People were scared, you couldn't go a second without hearing students screaming and crying. As I ran toward the back corridors of the room, there was one thought running through my head: "Why couldn't I have had a gun on me?"

That sick fuck Kimveer Gil injured 19 people that day, killing one, Anastasia D'Sousa. I had the pleasure of knowing Anastasia. She was a sweet girl, always happy, always glad to see you, even if you were having a bad day. And I can say with utmost confidence that if students were allowed to carry weapons on them in Dawson College on that day, she would not have died. If only I had brought a gun to school on that day, I, or any other student, could have prevented that tragedy from occurring as soon as it started.

People don't shoot people when they're surrounded by people with guns, because as soon as they draw their weapon, they will be vastly outnumbered by people with an equal ability to kill as them. By the logic most opponents of my view seem to follow, gun shows would be killing sprees. But they aren't. Why? Because everybody has a gun.

College campuses should not be treated any differently than any other property: guns should absolutely be allowed. If they were, students would not be sitting ducks for deranged killers, but would be citizens fully capable of making sure school shootings become a thing of the past.