The College Fix

Proposed concealed carry legislation has propelled gun law debates into the forefront of campus debate in the aftermath of Jared Loughner’s shooting spree in Tucson.

Six states are considering bills that, if passed, would broaden the ability of professors and students to carry concealed weapons on college campuses.

Arizona, Florida, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas legislatures have proposed bills to either lift some or all of the restrictions on campuses.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus representative Daniel Crocker applauded the move by the state senators and representatives.

“People can protect themselves everywhere but on campus,” Crocker said. “We don’t think this should be any different from anywhere else.”

Each bill is different in scope. The proposed Arizona bill, for example, would only allow professors to carry on college campuses. New Mexico’s bill, however, would entitle those holding a permit to carry concealed guns on schools, universities and in places serving alcohol. The New Mexico bill would also eliminate a requirement that limits a person to carry one concealed handgun at a time.

Crocker said he believed the Texas bill has the most hope of passing in to law. He said a similar bill passed in 2009 through the state senate but died because of an unrelated filibuster.

“Arizona has a very, very conservative legislature this year so they’re widely expected to pass,” Crocker said.

Crocker said that bills limiting concealed carry to professors, however, are usually unpopular.

University of Arizona senior Tyler Quillin, who sponsored legislation against concealed carry in AU’s student senate last year, said he felt the Arizona law could be potentially dangerous for professors.

“A professor could choose not to carry, not to utilize their new right and they would be an instant target if a student knew about the law and chose to open fire on campus,” Quillin said.

Quillin, who was also an intern for Representative Gabrielle Giffords last semester, said that most students are opposed to the idea of firearms on campus.

“I spoke to hundreds of students,” Quillin said. “Every single student I spoke with was adverse to the idea of having firearms on campus.”

In the past decade, a number of high-profile shootings have taken place on campus, or were at the hands of a student. In 2007, Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech. The following year, a student at Northern Illinois University killed six people and injured 21, after opening fire in a classroom.

Most recently, Loughner, a suspended community college student, shot 19 people and killed six at Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tucson, Ariz.

Crocker said students should not be afraid of having firearms on campus since most laws allow people to carry in other public areas.

“I think the real question here is, given that we have the abundance of fire arms, does it really make sense to tell people that this one place that people live and work—no guns?” Crocker asked.

Crocker cited several institutions that already allow students to carry concealed weapons, he said that none of the institutions have encountered issues under their policy.

Colorado State University in Fort Collins is one of the institutions that allows students to carry. They have permitted concealed carry since 2003.

The campus policy is simply a matter of following state law, said CSU spokesperson Brad Bohlander.

“Since there was not clear proof one way or another which was safer, the decision was made to follow the state law,” Bohlander said. Several other Colorado universities decided to create their own concealed carry policies by appealing to the attorney general.

After a lawsuit, on April 15, 2010 it was decided that all universities would need to allow students to carry, according to Bohlander.

Bohlander said the issue is still a heated debate on campus and while the university allows for concealed carry under state law, it tries not to take a side.

“It’d be difficult to say if it’s made campus safer or not,” Bohlander said. “What I’ve seen is people on both sides are very passionate. There’s certainly not an overall consensus. We’ve heard from students, faculty, staff and parents who all make good arguments about why concealed weapons should or should not be allowed on this campus.”

Amanda Seitz is the campus editor of the Miami Daily Student. She is a member of the Student Free Press Association.

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