A town hall on concealed-carry in campus facilities was held featuring President Seidel, Vice President and General Counsel Evans, UWPD Chief Holland, Firearms Research Center Director Professor Mocsary, and Branding Iron Editor-in-Chief, Student Representative Meester. This town hall covered a variety of questions and context for the newly proposed draft rule for concealed-carry as another opportunity for campus input.
The first portion of the town hall primarily covered basic context and history that was discussed in the preceding webinar and rapid-response dialogue. This discussion, as President Seidel noted, has been going on since 2020 at the latest. And, as Evans noted, the policies around firearms at the university have changed drastically over the decades. The legislative committee of the Board of Trustees was tasked with finding a concealed-carry policy that would ensure safety and security beyond the original legislation Governor Gordon vetoed. He directed UW to find a solution to the concealed-carry conversation.
During the discussion, moderated by Presidential Fellow and Economics Professor Matt Burgess, a variety of questions regarding specific policies were asked of the speakers with the intent of giving more understanding to the rest of campus. The Early Care and Education Center offered that they may lose their accreditation should this policy go through and allow firearms on their premises, while others offered in their submitted questions that it made little sense for ASUW, Faculty and Staff Senate meetings to be restricted areas as firearms could be used to protect these bodies should an atrocity occur.
Further questions that were addressed included that of what will happen when states with whom Wyoming has reciprocity produce students under the Wyoming concealed-carry age of 21, who have permits from their respective states. This age difference was addressed with the idea that permits show that students are capable firearms holders and the systems are in place for good reason.
The audience address section of the panel was the most contentious. Professor Mocsary offered a variety of statistics demonstrating that concealed-carry does not increase campus danger. However, statistics from the audience contradicted this idea, and the Firearms Research Center was accused of bias due to their funding source allegedly being weapons and ammunition manufacturers. Professor Mocsary addressed this claim in stating that donors have no influence on the content or research preferences of the Firearms Research Center or its researchers. Ultimately, the audience was notably against the idea of firearms in campus facilities with the exception of a few members.
Other concerns brought up regarded the high amount of 21+ students in apartments and a 16% 21+ population in dorms. Both of these populations would have the potential to concealed carry while younger Wyomingites would not.
The audience was comprised of parents, faculty, staff, and students, who offered a variety of perspectives. Another consideration made was the possibility of increased suicide rates should concealed-carry be allowed in the dorms. Ultimately, Professor Mocsary offered that there are no statistics that dictate there would be a higher likelihood of suicide with concealed-carry. Chief Holland offered on the topic of day-to-day that there would likely not be significant changes on campus should the draft rule be approved.
Ultimately, Chief Holland assured that campus safety and security will be the utmost priority of UWPD regardless of how the rule turns out. For the student perspective and Representative Meester’s contributions, see the Concealed-Carry Editorial.
President Seidel and VP Evans made clear that the draft rule is nothing more than a draft and there will likely be extensive conversations that change the rule before a final one is decided on. Policies like this take time to develop and the entire administration expressed appreciation of input from campus members. President Seidel encouraged that campus members attend the community input portion of the Board of Trustees meeting and assured the audience that the concealed-carry survey results would also be taken into account.
The broadcast of this panel is available on WyoCast under the title, “Town Hall: Concealed Carry of Firearms in University Facilities.”
