Guns on Campus the Case

Guns on Campus

The Case of a Nationwide Ban of Concealed Weapons on Campus

The issue of gun rights ignites a great deal of impassioned disagreement with gun advocates deferring to the U.S. Constitution's protective stance on the right to bear arms and its detractors pointing to the violent and deadly toll which guns have had on society. Today, in the shadow of an array of horrific mass casualty incidences involving gunmen, this issue is as heated as ever. Indeed, the debate is today taking center stage in the university setting, where heightened concern about student violence has come face-to-face with legislative and judicial efforts to create yet more lax gun laws in some campus contexts. It is thus that the discussion here is aimed at students and educators who have a direct interest in limiting the spread of guns and gun violence on campus.

Issue:

The present issue has been magnified by a March decision by the Colorado State Supreme Court allowing students with concealed weapon permits to carry guns on campus. Frosch (2012), in addition to removing previously existent bans at the University of Colorado and other public universities, the ruling has created a furor among students, educators and others who feel their safety has been undermined by this decision. According to Frosch, "Over the last two months, with the school year in full swing, anxiety over the university's new gun policy has risen -- driven in part by the mass shooting at an Aurora movie theater on July 20 by a troubled University of Colorado Denver graduate student and by the deep scars that still cut through the state from the killings at Columbine High School 13 years ago." (Frosch, p. 1)

Indeed, the debate over this issue has taken on ever greater pertinence in light of a number of incidences that have deprived our students the feeling of safety and security on campus. In fact, since the 1997 Virginia Tech that left 32 dead and 15 more wounded, both sides of the debate have ratcheted up efforts on their respective behalves. Critics of gun violence have indicated that this calls for stronger gun control laws on campus and beyond while advocates of gun rights have seen this as only further justification for the right of other students to arm themselves for protection. This delineates two opposing arguments in a debate which has reached the forefront of the gun law debate in light of recent judicial decisions.

Facts:

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, it is incumbent upon individual states to determine the regulatory conditions facing universities where gun control is concerned. The NCSL identifies those 21 states where there is currently a statewide ban on carrying concealed weapons on college campuses, denoting that such laws exist to protect students from gun violence in Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming. (NCSL, p. 1)

Beyond these states, the NCSL indicates that there are 23 states which avail the discretion of this ban to individual colleges and universities. According to the NCSL, these states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. (NCSL, p. 1)

A third category exists for states of which Colorado is now a part. As the NCSL reports, "due to recent state legislation and court rulings, 5 states now have provisions allowing the carrying of concealed weapons on public postsecondary campuses. These states are Colorado, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin." (NCSL, p. 1)

Recommendations:

What is particularly troubling about the policy orientation of the five states identified directly here above is that there position represents a rising wave of reactionary gun advocacy initiatives. As students, educators and anti-violence activists have coalesced to condemn the proliferation of guns in our society, the gun lobby has descended on individual state legislatures to introduce laws that would make way for more gun-permissive university and college campuses. According to Jervis (2011), "this year, at least 14 states have introduced 35 bills that would allow students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on state colleges and universities or loosen restrictions on gun bans on campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Meanwhile, two states, Maryland and Washington, have introduced bills to prohibit guns on campuses. None of the bills has passed so far." (Jervis, p. 1)