Campus Carry, Is It A Double Edge Sword?

By Terra Rivers

 

On June 13, 2015, Senate Bill 11 was signed and passed by Governor Greg Abbot introducing public institutions of higher education to campus carry. The new law requires public universities and colleges to allow holders of concealed handgun licenses to carry firearms on campus.

 

Starting August 1, 2016, Texas State students, faculty and staff with a concealed carry license will be able to carry concealed weapons on campus. However, the new policy has been met with mixed emotions by the university community.

 

“I am extremely against campus carry,” Kiersta Hoover said. “The idea of guns being concealed all over campus frightens me and gives me far more anxiety and stress than I need in an already stressful period of time.”

 

Hoover is a senior marketing major at Texas State University. She is set to graduate in August 2017.

 

She said she has two major fears about guns coming to campus. Her first is that an individual with a concealed handgun license would begin an active shooter situation themselves. The second is that an individual with a license would confront an active shooter.

 

“The more weapons added to the situation the more confusion there is,” Hoover said. “I think it is far more dangerous than it is worth to allow students to bring concealed weapons into that environment.”

 

Hoover’s response to campus carry isn’t an uncommon one. During public forums hosted by the university, students, faculty, staff and even parents shared similar feelings.

 

Capt. Daniel Benitez of the University Police Department said that the possibility of firearms on campus has caused a general response of fear from the community.

 

“It is not open carry on campus,” Benitez said. “It’s supposed to be concealed; nobody is supposed to know that they’re up here. If at any time anybody sees anything, all they have to do is call the police department and we’ll respond to it.”

 

David Klingele, a sophomore who is transferring to Texas State for fall, said he can see both sides of issue.

 

“It’s a double-edged sword,” Klingele said. “But if they pass the evaluations then they should be allowed to carry on campus. It could be as much as a deterrent to crime as anything due to the increased likelihood of being shot on campus.”

 

Klingele said he feels if it’s allowed, the university should have some sort of record of who has weapons on campus.

 

Currently, the Campus Carry Task Force is still in the debate period of the regulations and procedures that will have to be implemented.

 

“Campus Carry is not something the university came up with,” Benitez said. “It’s the law. We didn’t have the option like the private institutions.”

 

Out of 75 individuals asked about campus carry, only 4 were willing to share their opinions about campus carry. Five individuals explicitly said either their opinions were not important or they did not want their colleagues to know their personal views.

 

Where did the idea come from?

 

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, the idea of arming campuses came in the aftermath of several shootings at colleges and universities. In the last eight years, over 74 students, faculty and staff have been killed by a gunman on a college campus. Thirty-two of those lives were lost in a single incident.

 

In April 2007, 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and injured 17 others at Virginia Tech before taking his own life. It is considered one of the deadliest shootings in United States history. And it wasn’t the last.

 

There have been 37 gun-related instances on colleges campuses since Cho’s actions at Virginia Tech. Thirty-one of those incidents transpired between February and December of 2015.

Since the events at Virginia Tech, states have contemplated relaxing or increasing the restrictions of firearms in their respect borders. Nineteen states introduced legislation allowing concealed carry on campuses in some regard. By 2014, 14 other states had established similar legislation.

 

Despite the laws, some state legislatures have taken universities to court over the issue. In the case against the University of Colorado, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the university’s policy “banning guns from campus violated the state law.” The Oregon Court of Appeals overturned Oregon University System’s ban of guns on campus in 2011. However, Oregon’s State Board of Higher Education used its authority over internal policies and banned guns from campus buildings.

 

In several states, concealed guns are only allowed in locked vehicles in the campus parking lots.

Senate Bill 11:

 

Texas is one of eight states that now allows guns on college and university campuses. Senate Bill 11 allows universities and colleges to decide sensitive areas where guns will be prohibited.

 

In response to the new legislation, Texas State President Denise Trauth, created a task force of 25 members to develop Texas State University’s campus carry policy. The diverse representative group of students, faculty, staff and administration representatives were tasked with establishing the rules for CHL holders on campus.

 

“Senate Bill 11 requires that the president of the university consult with faculty, staff and students concerning three factors,” Vicki Brittain, chair of the Campus Carry Task Force, said, “The nature of the student population, specific safety concerns and the unique campus environment.”

 

Brittain said the task force is a broad-based group whose members have a variety of opinions on the topic of campus carry.

 

The task force was divided into eight subcommittees and charged with specific tasks. Every Friday the entire task force or subcommittees would meet to discuss, debate and make decisions concerning the recommendations for the campus carry policy. When the recommendations were completed, the draft was posted on the university website for students, faculty, staff and parents to review.

 

In November 2015, the task force hosted two public forums for the campus community to address its concerns with the recommendations. Two more were held in February following revisions to the draft before the policy was submitted to President Trauth for review.

 

“We had everybody there: faculty, students and staff—even some visitors as well,” Capt. Daniel Benitez said.

As a Capt. with the University Police Department, Benitez was also assigned to the task force by President Trauth. He said that he’d been involved with the legislation for the last four years; he’d been talking about it with colleagues and the community.

“The percentage of people who can carry is very low,” Benitez said. “But at the same time, those individuals who decide to carry have a lot of rules and restrictions and things that they got to be cautious about.”

Texas State University’s campus carry policy was approved by President Trauth on March 3. The rules stating which locations on campus that weapons are prohibited are as follows:

• Facilities that provide health services to students
• Premises providing services and events for minors
• Premises when used for competitive sporting, NCAA, and UIL
• Premises used for disciplinary, legal compliance, and counseling
• Premises used for official residences and governmental events

 

For more information, check out the rules here.

According to President Trauth’s website, which covers the proposed rules and explanations, campus carry may be amended by the Board of Regents by a two-thirds vote before campus carry takes affect.

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