The Firearms Research Center hosted a Webinar on November 14th, at 12:30 p.m. on the new Concealed-Carry Draft Rule, to be discussed by the Board of Trustees during their November 20th to November 22nd meeting session. This Webinar featured Vice President and General Counsel Tara Evans, UWPD Chief Josh Holland, Professor George Mocsary, and BridgeUWYO Founder and President Ven Meester.
The Webinar had the opportunity for prior question submissions for discussions by the speakers. The Draft Rule itself changed the policies regarding the carrying of dangerous weapons within facilities on campus. One of the main points made to lead off was that constitutional carry is already present on campus, but carry within facilities is currently disallowed.
After introductions, Tara Evans led off with why the rule was drafted, the legislature in Wyoming drafted legislation that was then vetoed by the Governor. It meant the current rule that allows carry on campus is currently allowed would have had to be repealed, and instead concealed and open carry would be allowed with little regulation on campus. The Governor directed the Board of Trustees legislative committee to encourage the drafting of a rule allowing safe concealed carry. The rule itself is still a draft and has not been adopted or recommended.
The proposed rule still prohibits dangerous weapons but carves out several university facilities where one can concealed-carry with a state-issued permit from Wyoming or a state with which Wyoming has reciprocity. This permit has to be registered with a signed acknowledgement with UWPD. The permit must be carried at all times, presented when requested, and the firearm must be either on one’s person or stored securely.
For the residence halls, this means one can concealed-carry handguns specifically, at the age of 21, if one has a lockbox. No other firearms are allowed in residence halls as has been the rule previously.
Certain places do not allow concealed-carry: governing bodies, athletic events, alcohol serving locations, k-12 schools, patient care facilities (including mental health), labs or locations with hazardous materials, or meetings of faculty, staff, or student governments. These locations are based on state law, federal law, and proposed UW policies.
The UWPD can request you relinquish your firearm and restrict your carrying should you exhibit unsafe behavior of some kind.
Professor George Mocsary went on to share some data in his personal capacity as s scholar. He led off by stating that concealed-carry license holders are exceptionally law-abiding. Mocsary made a distinct point that the university is considering the question of concealed-carry in the context of the world outside the university. He also added that concealed-carry users are effective at stopping active shooter incidents and threats.
There are also a number of instances on campuses where students prevented attacks, and, in addition, Mocsary noted no situations where incidents have resulted on university campuses as a result of concealed-carry. The quantity of concealed-carry licenses has not appeared to have resulted in any significant safety concerns in the nation.
Chief Holland spoke next on the UWPD perspective on the matter. The UWPD has no official position on the rule but did provide an advisory role on current statutes and how to support the campus. The police department is committed to the most professional police services and a safe campus. The UWPD approach has been to look at other campuses and their challenges both in gun policies but also their campus police policies.
The UWPD offers in-person active response programs and is working on an online medium for this purpose. Producing a firearm ultimately can always produce a level of risk but people who are typically at the initiating point of scenes can often make the best decisions. Regardless of the outcome, Holland wants it to be known that UWPD is here every step of the way.
Ven Meester offered that from the perspective of students, as he understands it in his capacity as both the Branding Iron Editor-in-Chief and the President of BridgeUWYO, there are a lot of questions. Students are confused as to why these policies are being discussed, what benefit concealed carry has on campus, and what this means for student safety.
One of the main questions regarded the survey put out to campus regarding this issue. Evans weighed in on the purpose of the survey. The President wanted to understand campus perspectives and he plans to use these results in addition to hard data and feedback to make his recommendation on this policy.
Mocsary was then asked to address some data questions on statistics regarding K-12 schools, and concealed carry on other campuses. At the 400 or so universities that permit concealed carry, Mocsary noted no violent crimes regarding concealed carry. He noted only nine accidents in the entirety of these schools with only four noted injuries.
He then noted that Utah has allowed every public school teacher to concealed carry and from 1995 to 2019 there was only one instance of an accident in which a teacher’s gun fell from a toilet paper roll and fired, damaging the toilet.
He finished off with insurance statistics that laid out that concealed carry in no way increases the risk of injury from the liability perspective.
Chief Holland spoke on the current rule’s effects on campus safety. He first noted that many people did not know they could carry on grounds. The UWPD lacks significant data points on infractions regarding campus carry and thus there are relatively limited impacts.
There were also a variety of questions regarding who is permitted to carry and what the ramifications of violating this policy are.
The process, as Holland notes, is a background check, a fingerprint screening, and qualifications under a variety of factors, all of which to pass the application process. The permit is then valid for five years. The default is 21 years or older but there are some exemptions for those over 18.
Evans added that violation of this policy will result in disciplinary action per campus policies.
Only UWPD can request the permit, and by statute, these records are protected by law.
The new rule, as Evans also noted, does apply to visitors as well. They would have to register their permit with PD for a year’s worth of time, but registration is required nonetheless.
One concern regarding restricted areas was that the Early Care and Education Center is not a restricted area. Mocsary stated that, presumably, one reason this area is not restricted is a higher chance of this area being targeted by an active threat and thus protection by concealed-carry holders would be a benefit.
Ven Meester brought up the concern of students that many students under 21 would be disadvantaged by only 21+ students having the ability to concealed carry. Further safety concerns by students regard the sole ability of UWPD to check concealed-carry permits. This would require students to essentially assume that any gun-holding student is a concealed-carry permit and thus there is a false sense of safety created. In the status quo, a gun-holding student is always a concern, with this draft rule it would not be.
Mocsary offered that he infrequently sees individuals carrying firearms and thus concern should not be high. Most concealed-carry holders will have firearms that are not able to be seen by most people.
The final question regarded training on campus. A page will be put up on the Firearms Research Center site that will go along with firearms safety, talking about where to get various types of training. This will point to the UWPD page that Holland notes will have growth in the information on concealed-carry training and resources.
