Using psychology and organizational leadership, the author analyzes the impacts of allowing concealed carry of handguns on a university campus. Regarding psychology, the author discusses how behavioral theory suggests that students will not be impacted if they cannot see a concealed weapon. For organizational leadership, surveys found that over half of students feel safer knowing professors are trained to handle dangerous situations. The author concludes that concealed carry will likely not psychologically impact students and that students prefer trained professors as classroom leaders in emergencies.

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Campus carry
Juan Moreno
INTS 3300-section 02
Dr. Ronald Donahue
Texas Tech University

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Abstract
Carrying a concealed handgun on campus offers students the ability feel safer on campus. In
order to demonstrate the impacts campus carry is going to have, this article presents the
integration of two disciplines, psychology and organizational leadership. Using concepts and
theories from multiple disciplines. Results indicate that, as a whole, students will not be
impacted by the presence of a concealed hand gun, and the positive attitudes of the students
towards the professors being leaders in a tragic situation. Surveys conducted at certain
universities highlighted the importance of the psychological impact a concealed hand gun will
have on students, and identified benefits of appointing professors as leaders in the classroom. We
conclude that concealed hand guns will not have any psychological impacts on students in and
out class and that students will feel much safer in a classroom environment if their professors are
in charge. Finally, some insight is given on how concealed handgun came to be acceptable at
Texas Tech University.

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Using Repkos ten step process I will give an insight of carrying a concealed hand gun on campus
using Psychology and Organizational Leadership. Viewing the subject through the perspective of
both these discipline I will be able to give an insight of the impacts a gun will have on students
and how students will feel much safer in class knowing that their professor is prepared for certain
situations.
State the Focus of Your Paper
Senate bill 11, also referred to as campus carry is going to allow students to carry a concealed
gun on the premises of universities. The new law will become effective August 01, 2016 and will
allow a Concealed Handgun License (CHL) carrier to have a concealed handgun on campus as
long as certain rules are followed. The rules are simple and follow the same rules that a person
must follow to carry a concealed weapon in the state of Texas. Students will be able to carry
their weapon in most of the building at the university with the exception of certain areas. For
example at Texas Tech these areas include the Student Recreation Center, Kent Hance Chapel
and any premise where professional counseling services are provided. These areas are clearly
stated in the Human Resources operating policy and procedure statement and can only be
modified by the President of each university.
Giving the students a chance to carry a concealed weapon on campus has been a controversial
topic in the minds of the public. Campus carry is always a topic of debate after a gun related
incident occurs on a university premise. Since the beginning of the debate there has been people
on both sides of the debate, some people believe in tighter gun control laws while others believe
in the complete opposite. People opposing the law believe that guns will do more harm than
good on a college campus; they believe that given the chance to carry a concealed weapon will

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increase the act of violence crimes. On the other hand people that support students carrying a
concealed gun on campus believe it will bring down the probability of a shooting happening on a
campus. Important issues that are not being considered are the impacts carrying a concealed gun
on campus will have on current students, in and out of class? Also what can the professors do to
make the students feel safe while in class?
Justify Using an Interdisciplinary Approach
In order to better understand a complex problem a person must be able to view the topic through
more than one point of view. When a hot topic arises such as carrying a concealed hand gun on
campus using an interdisciplinary approach to research the controversial problem will give the
researcher a better insight. When looking at the topic through more than one perspective a person
is able to take the insights and theories from different disciplines which will lead to a more
complete understanding of the topic. Carrying a concealed hand gun on campus will require the
interdisciplinarity analysis that can be extracted from the social sciences and organizational
leadership.
Identify Relevant Disciplines
Carrying a concealed handgun on campus is a multifaceted issue and should be viewed as such.
There are many perspectives to consider regarding this issue that are often overlooked. Multiple
disciplines can be considered to approach the subject of carrying a concealed hand gun on
campus. Some of these disciplines are law, political science, organizational leadership, and
psychology. Approaching the problem through interdisciplinary studies allows multiple aspects
to be considered rather than the viewpoint of a single discipline. To provide the best answer to

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the focus questions I believe psychology and organizational leadership are the most relevant
disciplines to use in my research.
Conduct a Literature Search
Using psychology to approach the subject can ensure that students who are not able to carry a
concealed handgun on campus will not be impacted by the students who are carrying a gun.
Carrying a concealed hand gun in public has always been an issue in the eye of the public. When
the law first came out in the mid nineties the people did not know how to respond to the law.
After some time the public learned to cope and accepted the law. Several studies show that as
long as a person is not able to see the handgun then the presence of the handgun will have no
impact. Students on campus will be as comfortable as they are when they go to the grocery store,
Movie Theater, or the mall (Eagar, 2016).
In certain situations a student’s looks up to the professor for guidance and instructions. For
example when the school decides to have a fire drill the teacher is responsible for guiding the
students safely out of the classroom and leads them to a safe zone. Training the professors at a
university how to properly handle a weapon will ease the student’s minds and make them feel
safer in class. Several surveys conducted at the universities have shown that more than half of
the students will feel comfortable knowing the teacher is well trained when it comes to handling
a gun (Lewis, 2015)
DevelopAdequacy in Each Relevant Discipline
In order to achieve the adequacy for a certain discipline we must have a certain understanding of
the theories involved with the discipline. Psychology is defined as the mental characteristics or
attitude of a person or a group. There are many articles and research on the effects guns have on

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people, but since the campus carry topic is fairly new there are not that many which will tie to
the subject directly. Understanding the behavioral theory in psychology a person is able to see
that a person’s environment determines their behavior. There are two critical components to the
theory; one is the unconditioned stimulus the other is the unconditioned response. The
component to the theory most relatable to the impact a handgun will have on a student is the
unconditioned stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus states that a person unconditionally,
naturally, and automatically triggers a response (Nevid, 2013). For example when I student sees
a gun in a classroom they automatically become frightened.
In accordance with the universities curriculum organizational leadership “blends challenging
course options with relevant interdisciplinary electives to facilitate an interest in and appreciation
for the beneficial application of operational concepts through leadership”. When a student is
going to school to become a teacher they are enrolled in certain classes that focus on
empowering an individual to become a leader. In a classroom setting a professor is not only a
person that introduces material to students, but they are also considered to be the leader of the
group. Several surveys have been conducted to better understand what students think in reference
to a professor carrying a concealed handgun in class.
Analyze the Problem and Evaluate Each Insight and Theory.
Psychology
Researching the Behavioral theory in psychology will help explain the impact a gun will have on
students in class and out of class. Reading into the literature of psychology and studying various
theories has helped me better understand the behavior of a human being when they are or are not
aware of certain objects that are around them. This is a simplified definition for the behavioral

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theory. Two parts of the behavioral theory are unconditioned stimulus and unconditioned
response. To better understand the subject of carrying a concealed hand gun on campus we must
first understand the unconditioned stimulus. The unconditioned stimulus states that if a person
does not see an object he or she will not feel anything in relation to that object “taking internal
mental states such as thoughts, feelings, and emotions into consideration is useless in explaining
behavior” (Cherry, 2016). The theory believes that a person does not have free will instead a
person’s mind is programmed by certain events in their lives and that ideas are adopted from the
people around us: also known as our environment. A concealed hand gun is considered a
handgun in which the presence “is not openly discernible to the ordinary observation of a
reasonable person” (TTU, 2016). Attending a class where a person is carrying a gun that is not
visible should not have any impact of the learning outcome of current students. Using the
information from the behavioral theory a person can simply see that if a student does not see that
a gun present then they will simply go on about their day as they normally would.
Organizational Leadership
Looking at the curriculum universities have laid out for people who are looking into making
teaching their future puts a person’s mind at ease. Some of the classes in the curriculum involve
an extensive focus in making professors natural leaders in any environment and to a certain
extent teach them how to make classroom feel like a safe environment. When a student is in a
classroom they automatically know that the professor is the leader and the voice of authority. A
recent survey conducted at Midwestern university shows how students believe that if their
professor is carrying a weapon they would feel safer in the classroom. The online survey was
available to Midwestern University students of which 419 students actually participated in the
survey. The survey was not targeted toward a specific audience it was available to any student on

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campus. The data that was gathered from the survey showed that over 53% of the students who
took the surveyed believed that classrooms will be safer if the professor was equipped and
trained to handle a weapon responsibly.
Identify Conflict Between Insights and Their Sources
“Integration can be achieved only between things that are different, whether those differences are
seemingly small or seem impossibly large. In other words, integration arises out of conflict”
(Repko, 2012). The conflict between psychology and organizational leadership is assumption
specifically ontological assumption. Ontological assumption pertains to the nature of reality and
makes the assumption of whether a person is rational, irrational, or rationalizing. The majority of
the sources that are related to carrying a concealed hand gun on campus are personal
perspectives on the subject.
Another conflict when using psychology and organizational leadership is the amount of
information available. When researching both subjects separately the researcher runs into the
problem of having too much information and not knowing how to categorize it. Between the
theories and concepts found a researcher has to skim through all the information and set aside the
articles or theories that are a better fit for the topic. With the vast amount of information gathered
the researcher can easily get carried away and lose track of information gathered.
Create Common Ground
“Common ground is the fundamental element of all interdisciplinary investigation because
without it, genuine communication between those who participate in the discussion would be
impossible”(Repko, 2012). In order to find common ground between articles that are

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rationalizing a person must find a way to extend the concepts. Extending the concepts is
identified as “increasing the scope of the something that we are talking about"(Repko, 2012).
Organization is a technique that creates common ground by clarifying how certain development
interacts and maps the common relationships. To be more organized the researcher must find
common variables within the research and map them accordingly. Mapping the common
variables can help the researcher find certain information he or she might have skipped when
doing the original research.
Construct a More Comprehensive Understanding.
Integrating two disciplines to better understand a certain subject is difficult, but with psychology
and organizational leadership the task was less difficult since the disciplines blended together
easily. The common question that was being asked when the subject of carrying a concealed
hand gun on campus came up was the impact a concealed handgun will have on students in and
out of class. In order to give a better insight on how the question should be answered I decided to
use psychology. Reading different articles and theories I came across the theory of behaviorism.
After I focused more on the theory I realized that behaviorism was going to be the best theory to
help me get a better insight at my focus question. Researching behaviorism I learned that a
person will not be effected if they do not know what is happening around them. If the policy
states that a person must carry their handgun concealed at all times then the public will never
know that you are carrying a weapon. According to the theory of behaviorism a person that
cannot see an object will not be impacted by the natural instinct of fear or distraction of that
object.

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With organizational leadership I decided to answer the question: what will the professors do to
make the students feel safer in class. Collecting information from many popular articles and
surveys conducted at universities I have come to the belief that most students prefer their
professors to have a weapon and be well trained to use it. Many of the surveys that were handed
out proved that the majority of the students will feel safer knowing that their leader in the
classroom is well trained to handle a situation should there ever be one. In many of the scenarios
where students are asked what they would do in case of a mass shooting occurring on their
campus the outcome was the same. More than half of the students that took part in these surveys
explained that they would much rather listen to the professor and follow the instructions given by
the professor. Much like they would in a fire drill or any emergency drills conducted by the
schools.
Communicating the Results
With the rise in crimes the government has decided to pass new laws that are meant to keep
public safer. Some people see eye to eye with the government while others decide that the
government has no idea of what they are doing. The issue of carrying a concealed hand gun on
campus is multifaceted and should be viewed as such. The ability to carry a concealed gun on
campus was a choice that was made by the President of Texas Tech University and faculty.
Before the president and the faculty members of the university decided to allow students to carry
guns on campus they were all allowed to express their views on the topic. By listening and
understanding different points of view brought forward by faculty members. The president was
able to reach a decision, much like the president of the university I also came to a decision based
off of my understanding of multiple perspectives.

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Works Cited
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http://concealedcampus.org/
Lewis,R.K. (2015). College StudentsOpinionsonGunViolence. Community health,482-487.
Mcleod,S. (2012). Simply psychology . RetrievedfromBehavioristApproach:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html
Nevid,J.(2013). ConceptsandApplications. Psychology .
Patten,R.(2013). PackingHeat: AttitudesRegardingConcealedWeaponsonCollegeCampuses.
American Journalof Criminal Justice,551-569.
Repko,A.F. (2012). Interdisciplinary Research:Processand Theory . California:Sage .
Resources,H.(2015, October14). Human Resources . RetrievedfromCampusCarryOverview:
http://www.depts.ttu.edu/hr/CampusCarry/
Trump,K. (2012, December12). Schoolsafety and schoolsecurity . RetrievedfromSchool safetyand
school security:http://www.schoolsecurity.org/