Illustration by Elza High

Darrah Walker
Lantern Staff

Recently, Kansas passed a bill allowing college students to conceal carry on campus if they are 21 years old or older. Now, Kansas House of Representatives passed a House Bill (HB) 2042 to lower the age to 18, which is now in the process of going through the senate. To conceal carry as an 18 to 21-year-old, a permit is required, which is given after proper training.

As a freshman in college and as someone who is against conceal carry, I do not see how allowing a young adult to conceal carry can be trusted with a gun. How am I supposed to feel safer and trust young adults with guns when most of the mass shootings (specifically school shootings) happen by a teenager or young adult?

I do not see any reasonable explanation to why an 18-year-old should be able to conceal carry. Some say that if they encounter a shooter that they would be able to make a split-second decision and grab their gun and shoot the assailant. Realistically speaking, when put under pressure in those kinds of situations, accuracy is affected.

According to Joan N. Vickers, an author of the Human Movement Science magazine, when analyzed 53.8 percentage of less experienced cops shot accurately. Even when put under pressure, trained officers make mistakes when encountering a shooter. With that being said, a young adult who takes less training courses than an officer will most likely not be accurate when trying to stop a school shooter.

If trained professionals sometimes fail to use their weapons the right way, then a young adult will most likely fail to use it correctly, too. It is scary to think that if a bill passes, people my age will have the ability to carry a gun. The more people that carry, the more likely something bad will happen.

During the late teens to early adulthood, many mental health conditions are known to develop. These mental illnesses can cause a gun holder to use the gun against others.

According to a writer for the DualDiagnosis.org, early adulthood is a time where several mental illnesses can develop and occur. Most of the substance abuse and mental illnesses can be identified by age 14, but the number climbs to three-quarters by age 24.

Dallas-Fort Worth News (Chanel 5 NBCDSF) Reporter Vikram Targu reported about the specific mental illnesses that develop in the late teens and early adulthood.

“The first episodes of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder tend to appear in the late teens and early 20’s,” Targu said.

With all the mental illnesses developing, this should be reason enough for Kansas HB 4042 to fail in the senate.