The College Fix

Student body president says Texas has high standards for concealed carry

The Texas Legislature is facing dueling resolutions on gun rights from Texas A&M University’s student senate and its graduate student council.

Last week the student senate voted 39-12, with six abstentions, to approve a resolution that would allow concealed carry “on all University premises … including buildings and residence halls.”

It was the third such try for gun-rights advocates at the school in recent years. The student senate rejected a similar bill in 2011 and the senate president vetoed an approved bill in 2012.

The bill has no power to change firearms policy at the university, which as of this fall enrolls more than 56,000 students, but simply allows the student government to lobby the Legislature to change state law.

“This bill is important because it establishes that the official opinion of the student body of Texas A&M University-College Station … is for concealed carry on campus,” Cary Cheshire, the chief sponsor of the bill, told The College Fix by email.

State law currently “leaves the matter to the institution” on whether to allow concealed carry, Cheshire said. The student senate does not believe Texas A&M will allow concealed carry without a state mandate, he said.

The resolution also asks the Legislature “to prevent public universities from creating policies seeking disciplinary action against students, faculty and staff who are in accordance with state law.”

Senate Speaker Hannah Weger supported the bill because it moves the school in the direction of more security and safety on campus, she told KAGS TV.

“I know A&M has a lot of secure mechanisms on campus. For example, the [Corps] escorts,” Weger said. “That is something that is really beneficial that a lot of other schools don’t have. Then obviously the emergency lights around campus. But a lot of students believe that’s not enough.”

Kyle Kelly, president of the student body, wrote in a statement that deciding whether to “sign or veto this act was the most difficult decision I have made” in his position.

“This is a very complicated issue of personal rights, but more importantly, public safety,” Kelly said, explaining that only valid concealed handgun license holders would be allowed to carry weapons throughout the campus.

Those license holders “meet a high standard of eligibility criteria, such as federal qualifications to purchase a handgun, multiple background checks, and psychological health clearance,” and since they must be 21 or older, “most of those eligible will be upperclassmen or university personnel,” Kelly wrote.

The university’s Graduate and Professional Student Council passed a resolution, also citing student safety, opposing Cheshire’s bill, President Christopher Lyons told The Fix in a phone interview.

“The general feeling spelled out in the resolution … is a feeling of being safe” in buildings and classrooms and campus in general, Lyons said.

“Generally the majority of students do not feel safe with concealed carry on campus,” and “in general the rate of violent crimes … on college campuses without concealed carry is still very low compared to the general populace,” Lyons said.

Lyons did not provide a copy of the council’s resolution or the research data and studies it relies on prior to publication. The council’s resolutions page is empty.

Timothy Broderick, president of the Residence Hall Association, told The Battalion he opposed the student senate’s resolution.

“With the campus culture we have, the current measures, the [university police department], the Corps escorts, other support sources here, I believe we do a better job of preventing problems, especially of a violent nature,” than armed students, Broderick said.

Broderick did not return requests for comments from The Fix.

College Fix reporter Matt Lamb is a student at Loyola University-Chicago.

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