Amid much controversy, the Texas Legislature is considering SB354, a bill that would allow licensed students and professors to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. The bill has passed a Senate committee and has been referred to the Committee of Criminal Justice, where it will be up for a hearing. (Follow SB354). With support from Governor Rick Perry and more than half the members of the House signing on as co-authors, most observers think that the bill will be passed. But according to an article by Patrick Williams in the Dallas Observer, concealed guns on campus is not necessarily a fait accompli: “[Similar] legislation has failed 43 times in 23 states since Virginia Tech,” Malte says, referring to the 2007 campus mass murder that claimed 32 lives. “Every time somebody said this is a done deal over the last three years, it was defeated.”
Utah is currently the only state that allows guns on campus, but legislation is on the docket in several other states. Fox Business News reports that eight other states currently have campus carry legislation underway. These include Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Tennessee.
With sympathetic Republicans at or approaching supermajority status in a few of these states, the political stars are in alignment for success. Ultimately, the deciding factor may come down to the strength of student and parental support or opposition. Keep Guns Off Campus says that the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and 271 colleges and universities in 36 states – 189 four-year colleges and universities and 82 community colleges and technical schools – have joined the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus. (See Listing). On the other hand,
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus point to widespread support – not the least of which is the mighty power and deep pockets of the NRA.
Follow-on to “Guns at Work”
The spate of campus carry legislation is a natural adjunct to the NRA’s major “guns at work” legislative initiative, which has been sweeping the country in recent years to considerable success. According to the NRA, there are now 13 states that have laws permitting employees to have guns at work: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah. While the particulars of these laws vary, such laws generally allow licensed gun owners to keep guns locked in their cars at work, including on employer-owned parking lots. In some states, certain business such as hospitals, schools and prisons are exempt. This is an issue that has pitted the rights of an employer to establish policy for their private property (employer-owned parking lots) against second amendment rights. It’s an issue that has been opposed by employer groups and associations.
For more history on the Guns at Work issue, see prior postings on the topic below.
Three new state laws limit employer restrictions on guns at work
Guns at work: coming to a neighborhood near you?
Workers with guns
Guns at work
Tags: colleges, guns, laws, legislation, Texas, universities, workplace
