GUNS/BARMS

[shermann7]

Another state allows concealed carry on college campuses, part of growing movement

http://libertycrier.com/another-state-allows-concealed-carry-college-campuses-part-growing-movement/

POCATELLO, Idaho — Derek Sommer carries a concealed handgun almost everywhere he goes these days, including onto the campus of Idaho State University — an illegal act until recently.

Under an Idaho law that took effect July 1, nearly 3,000 residents with enhanced concealed carry permits can bring their guns on college campuses. Sommer no longer leaves his gun at home or in his car's locked glove compartment.

Idaho became the seventh state to allow "campus carry" in a movement gaining traction across the country, despite the often strenuous opposition of other students, faculty and campus administrators.

Oregon, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi and Wisconsin also have laws on the books that allow students to conceal weapons on campus.

Spurred by recent high-profile campus shootings, grassroots groups like Students for Concealed Carry (SCC) are pushing for the right to carry on more campuses, sometimes with the backing of larger gun rights groups like the National Rifle Association.

For Sommer, 23, a computerized machining student who founded Idaho State's SCC chapter, carrying his handgun means protection for himself, his wife McKinley, and their 7-month-old daughter, Andi.

"It makes me angry; it really does," he said. "I don't like the fact that there are places where it's considered OK to tell somebody, 'You don't have the right to protect yourself.'"

For others, like Boise State University student Angel Hernandez, the new law means less focus on learning and more on worrying about who's packing a gun on campus.

"I went to Boise State to get an education; I didn't go to Boise to go to a gun show," he said.

Opposition

Opponents of campus carry laws have seen mixed success of late.

Arkansans Against Guns on Campus got state lawmakers to exclude students from a law letting faculty and staff bring concealed guns on campus if their college grants permission.

Attempts to start a Colorado referendum to end campus carry there ended in failure.

Groups like SCC, meanwhile, have active chapters in at least 30 states, mobilizing as many as 30,000 students and faculty to support laws and court cases favorable to the cause, said group spokesman Kurt Mueller.

The group occasionally makes local headlines when members gather to wear empty holsters to promote campus carry — from Washington state to Michigan to Florida. It operates with little funding, relying instead on volunteers and social media for recruitment and chapter operations, Mueller said.

"We don't have professional lobbyists," he said. "We don't pay anybody to lobby. People do it for free because it's what they believe in."

In Alabama

Alabama one year ago changed state law from saying sheriffs "may" issue concealed carry permits to they "shall" issue. Some sheriffs had used their discretion to deny permits to teenagers, but now all sheriffs must issue permits to those over 18.

The University of Alabama does not allow permit-holding students to possess guns on campus. Nor does Auburn University. Some students look to challenge those policies.

In a rare split on gun rights, Al.com readers were divided on this issue campus carry.


Victory in the West, Battles in the South

A News21 analysis of on-campus shootings found 87 of them, or 60 percent, have happened in the past decade. Campus carry supporters nationwide said in interviews that the increase in shootings partly influenced their desire to bring concealed guns on campus.

SCC formed after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Mueller argues an armed student could have stopped the shooter without waiting for police to arrive.

"The confrontation would have ended a lot sooner," he said. "Lives would have been saved."

Campus carry supporters point to the legal doctrine of preemption, which says only the state legislature can regulate guns in the state. No other government in the state, such as cities and counties, can make gun rules. Many states exempt K-12 schools and some public buildings from concealed carry of guns.

The first state to finalize campus carry was Utah in 2006. University of Utah continued banning guns on campus despite the state's 2004 preemption law. Two years after the law passed, a lawsuit against then-state Attorney General Mark L. Shurtleff led to colleges allowing concealed guns.

A 2011 lawsuit by a division of the Oregon Firearms Federation led to a state court striking the Oregon state education board's ban against guns on campuses.

The victories are not complete. As in other campus carry states, Oregon universities insist they can limit guns in buildings, and the Oregon state board bans guns in event centers, classrooms and dorms.

In Utah, students may ask not to live with gun owners in dorms, and universities can ban guns from certain meeting rooms.

I don't know if I could live with myself if I ended up taking somebody's life, especially if it was somebody troubled.

Kansas' 2013 campus carry law included an optional four-year delay before licensees could bring concealed guns on campus. Arkansas' law allowing only faculty and staff to carry requires colleges annually renew any on-campus bans.

The laws on campus carry in other states vary, from letting students store guns in their cars to leaving policy decisions to the schools.

Colorado courts sided with SCC in 2010 and 2012, ruling the state's public universities and colleges must allow concealed weapons permit holders to bring guns on campus. The courts said college gun bans violated a 2003 state law giving the legislature sole gun regulation control.

Colorado colleges still regulate guns in dorms, dining halls and event centers. University of Colorado, Boulder, designated dorm space for gun owners, but no students have requested it, said campus spokesman Bronson Hilliard. In Colorado, concealed carry licensees must be at least 21.