[Revisions to this article have been made]
Campus security is an on-going issue with little agreement at colleges across the nation. Some argue guns make campuses safer, but others strongly disagree. The University of Wyoming is now having the conversation, as policy makers across the board are bringing the conversation to campus.
The faculty senate brought a resolution to the table Monday, establishing its position as being in favor of a “firearms free campus.” Resolution 325 states it supports the rights of gun owners in the state, but that “there are many aspects of a university setting that are not conducive to students, educators and visitors carrying firearms.”
With past state legislators’ measures to permit guns on all Wyo. school campuses, as well as news of the forming of a UW chapter of the national RSO Students for Conceal Carry, Executive Committee Chair-Elect Tucker Readdy said it is an important time to come to a consensus in the committee.
Readdy, the executive committee chair-elect, said the committee wants to take an official, proactive stance on the matter, rather than continue on a “two year basis that would suggest we only care when things threaten us immediately.”
“This is drafted so that we are on record permanently as saying ‘guns on this campus, concealed or otherwise, are a very bad idea,'” said Readdy, an assistant professor in the College of Health Sciences.
More pro-gun legislation can be expected in the coming session, said Wyo. gun lobbyist Anthony Bouchard, the executive director of Wyoming Gun Owners Association. Bouchard said they do not disclose member numbers, but assured they were the biggest political lobby in the state.
“We will continue to stay focused with what we’ve been doing: trying to repeal gun free zones and stopping state preemption,” Bouchard said.
A bill allowing anyone 21 or older to carry a gun into a public school, community college and UW was defeated in last year’s legislature. House Bill 105, killed by committee in a de facto decision of no-action, was “hosed,” said Rep. Allen Jaggi, R-Lyman, the bill’s sponsor. He and his supporters were not given fair time to be heard before the bill went to committee, he said, and as a result, died due to a lack of motion.
“That’s the way it works in the legislature: we have a lot of people saying they are second amendment [supporters], but they want to take our rights away,” Rep. Jaggi said.
Recruitment of faculty at UW is among the problems with the legislation, Edward Janak, chair of the student senate executive committee, said.
Janak said many members of the faculty and staff have expressed concern, saying they would feel unsafe if students were bringing guns onto campus and into the classroom.
“Do you want to work in an armed camp or a place that will have relative freedom,” Janak said. “There are staff who have jokingly asked for bullet proof vests to be standard issue if that happens.”
Andy Pelosi, founder of the Campaign to Keep Guns off a Campus, said that in his experience, most faculty and staff at colleges oppose guns on campus because they worry less with guns outside of the classroom.
“The faculty don’t want it for the most part because they think their campuses are fairly safe environments to begin with,” Pelosi said.
Bouchard, who lives in Cheyenne and has worked with the Wyoming Gun Owners Association since 2008, said faculty and staff are opposed to the bill because they have been “brainwashed” by the media and government.
“They don’t understand what self-defense is,” Bouchard said. “We have colleges telling women to vomit and urinate on themselves if they are being raped — how is that defense? We’re giving criminals the upper-hand.”
Chief of UW Police Department Mike Samp said he is not in favor of a conceal carry policy on campus.
Samp said the department remained opposed to allowing concealed firearms to be carried on campus, pointing to several factors unique to the college demographic.
Alcohol, drug abuse and the possibility of increased numbers of suicides or suicide attempts, make the prospect a dangerous one, according to Samp.
“There’s a strong likelihood if you add more guns on a campus, whether criminal or legal, the likelihood of them being used has increased,” Samp said, adding that ”having guns in a classroom setting can have a chilling effect.”
Some worry that more guns could also translate to more suicides.
According to the FBI, guns are used in 61 percent of successful suicides.
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) states that 50 percent of all suicide attempts are carried out with guns, and that increased access to firearms in rural parts of the country contributes to higher suicide rates.
“Restricting access to lethal methods is a key suicide prevention strategy,” according to the AFSP.
Moreover, a study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health rated Wyoming number one in gun prevalence and number two in suicide.
Bouchard said he does not buy it.
Statistics, he said, not reliable and are “used against the populace.” He said he does not agree the risk of suicide increases with easier access to firearms.
“It seems like they are all involved in the same political class of people,” Bouchard said. “They don’t respect the constitution.”
Pro-gun advocates point out that many existing colleges, including many in Utah and some in Colorado, allow for concealed carry and say they have not experienced negative repercussions. Bouchard said he thinks these campuses are safer.
“Bad guys are not waiting to get permits,” Bouchard said. “They go into where these gun-free zones are because they feel safe there.”
Pelosi said he firmly believes there is more risk in adding guns to the situation, no matter the circumstantial anecdotes in neighboring states.
“Most of the folks who carry don’t have the practical training law enforcement have. Allowing people to carry concealed weapons carries several unintended consequences,” Pelosi said.
Empirical evidence as to whether campuses are safer with concealed carry policies largely does not exist, said Jeffrey Bouffard, a researcher at the Sam Houston State University Beto Criminal Justice Center in Huntsville, Texas.
One study, conducted in 2012 to determine whether a change in conceal carry policies would increase the number of guns on campus, had varied results.
The study showed a slight increase in carriers following a change in policy favoring concealed weapons, but the study was not designed to determine whether the increase in carriers would result in more violent incidents.
It concludes saying the question is “beyond the scope of the current study but nonetheless significant in evaluating proposals to ease concealed carrying restrictions on college campuses.”
With two points of view seemingly unwilling to meet in the middle, the answer to the question of guns on the UW campus may come down to who beats who to the legislative punch.
