Guns and Grades

Abstract

Laws protecting the right to carry a concealed handgun on college campuses have been passed in eleven states to date, March 25, 2017, and additional states are considering similar legislation. A primary intent of these laws is to allow a person to utilize his or her second amendment right to bear arms to self protect from mass shootings on college campuses. However, there may be an unintended consequence from these laws permitting guns on college campuses: has permitting college students with licensed concealed handguns on campuses created a sufficient amount of fear in the participating university administrations to create a positive shift in the average grade distributions? To phrase more simply, are professors more likely than not to provide better grades for fear of students’ carrying a permitted firearm? If this is the case, does the marginal benefit of protecting the second amendment outweigh the marginal cost of grade integrity?