Guns on campus

Students, faculty and staff may be able to carry concealed handguns on college and university campuses if Texas legislators pass Senate Bill 354.

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, authored a concealed-handgun bill allowing owners to carry a weapon “on or about the license holder’s person” while on campus.

Wentworth said in a CNN television interview on Feb. 23 that the bill is to increase self-defense, calling gun-free zones, “victim zones.”

“How are you safe if you are sitting in a classroom unarmed, and some mentally-deranged person comes in and starts shooting people,” Wentworth said in the interview.

University President Rodney Mabry did not comment on the potential law, but said the response from The University of Texas System Chancellor Franciso Cigarroa stood for UT Tyler.

Cigarroa sent a letter to Gov. Rick Perry speaking against the legislation, citing parent, student, faculty, mental-health professionals and law-enforcement concerns.

“I must concur with all the concerns and apprehensions expressed to me, that the presence of concealed weapons, on balance, will make campus a less safe environment,” Cigarroa said in the letter.

However, criminal-justice major Jordan Baker said he fully supports the legislation.

“When I was first reading into this possible change, I got extremely excited because I am a concealed-permit owner,” Baker said. “I feel that it would make campus a little safer.”

As of 2008, laws in 26 states prohibit guns on public campuses while 23 states have discretion over the choice, and only Utah prohibits state institutions from barring guns on campus, accordaccording to the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Cathy Cline, a senior biology major, said she believes people should have the right to carry guns anywhere if they have a permit.

“I think it’s weird to have a permit to carry a gun but have places you can’t carry guns,” Cline said. “You either should be able to or shouldn’t be able to.”
Josh Carroll, a freshman biology major, said the legislation would not make him feel safer.

“I think it’s really unnecessary for students to have guns,” Carroll said. “There is not a legitimate reason to carry a gun on campus. I would definitely not feel safer.”

Brandon Voss, a junior kinesiology major, also doesn’t support the legislation but would pursue a concealed-handgun license to prevent being defenseless after the legislation passes.

“Guns don’t need to be in a classroom,” Voss said. “It’s not for a learning environment; but if I walk into a classroom, and 15 other people have guns, and I don’t, I would be defenseless.”

Section 46.03 of the Texas Penal Code currently prohibits weapons on the premises of a school or education intuition, polling places, court offices, racetracks, airports and prisons.

Wentworth said the Texas Senate passed the bill in 2009, and the bill had the votes to pass in the Texas House of Representatives, but the session ended before representatives could vote.

“We have more support in the House this time,” he said. “I’m pretty sure the bill will be passed and signed by the governor in about the next month or so.”

Under Wentworth’s law, private schools would have the ability to choose to abide by the law after consulting with students, faculty and staff, but public universities would not have that opinion.

Dr. Mary Linehan, University history professor, does not support the legislation.

“Guns increase violence, never lower it,” she said.

Linehan said the confusion during a shooting can escalate with the presence of more weapons, citing the recent incident in Tuscon, Arizona, when suspect Jared Loughne allegedly killed six people and wounded 13, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

“Shoot first, think later is not a safety precaution,” she said.

Dr. Barbara Hart, criminal justice department interim chair, said while campus shootings are rare, students reacting physically and mentally in varying degrees due to the stresses of college and life is very common.

“When you add the fact that the common age for college students is about 19 to 24, you have young individuals with limited-life experience facing enormous problems,” Hart said. “Almost all instructors personally know of these inner-most struggles suffered by their students, and, now, you ask if instructors are in favor of these students having weapons while they are being graded by that instructor.”

Linehan said she was a professor at Grand Valley State University in Michigan in the early 1990s when two students working on a project for class got into a dispute. She said one student had a legally-concealed weapon and shot and killed the other student.

“As an educator who has dealt with student emotions, I would be afraid to pass back papers if students could be carrying guns,” she said.

However, Wentworth said in the CNN interview, people do not go through the licensing process lightly.

Texas state law requires applicants have 10 hours of class or gun-range training, pass a handgun-proficiency exam and be at least 21 years old to obtain a license. Wentworth said less than 2 percent of Texans have the license.

Wentworth said students with the proper training and permits would better be able to defend themselves and others.

Baker agreed with Wentworth.

“The biggest contradiction to this law I have heard has been that the students would be able to just carry openly,” Baker said. “This is extremely false and for those of us that have paid our money and taken the 10-hour class, it seems a little ridiculous that we can carry everywhere else in the state to protect those around us and ourselves; yet in school, we can’t.”

However, Hart said while a student successfully stopping a shooter is possible, she believes it is not probable.

“Note the Fort Hood situation, but that was stopped by a trained officer,” she said. “These shootings occur with no warnings — no time to prepare — and are usually over in a matter of minutes if not seconds,” she said.

Hart said she believes not many people, even those with the 10 hours of training, could successfully confront the shooter and, at the same time, avoid shooting innocent people.

“The justification that all students should or could have guns on campus, in order to stop such a shooting, may be idealistic rather than realistic,” she said. “There is some research that suggests that the potential for gun violence may be reduced if the shooter has reason to believe anyone else present may also have a weapon. However, that hypothesis is difficult to test.”

Anthony Emmel, University history instructor, said the age limit would rule out many of the younger students, and the bill should only allow faculty and administration to carry weapons.

Emmel said he could see both positive and negative aspects.

“I can see the potential to protect one’s self after night classes as a positive,” he said. “But I think it is a sad comment on our society that it is even necessary to still have the need to carry weapons.”

All but one of the students interviewed said they don’t believe the threat of students and faculty with guns would stop most school shooters.

“I wouldn’t feel safer because I wouldn’t carry one myself,” Cierra Cline, a freshman psychology major, said. “And I don’t think it would deter a shooter because a person that is going to shoot someone is psychologically off. So, they may think of it as a challenge.”

Josh Ware, a sophomore English major, also said he didn’t believe the legislation would deter a gunman.

“If someone is going to do that, they will do it anyway,” Ware said. “They probably want their life to be ended anyway. It’s not about being afraid.”

Ware said he would be concerned about accidents as a result of the legislation.

“What if someone loses track of their gun on campus?” he said.

Beayonka Askew, a senior health-studies major, said she would also be concerned with regulation and whether campus-security personnel would check licenses.

Askew said school shootings are usually isolated incidents, and she believes campus-security personnel do a good job keeping the campus safe.

“I don’t know if we would necessarily needs firearms,” she said. “We have campus security, and they make rounds often.

In addition to Chief Mike Medders, there are eight officers and six security guards, and campus security officials said officers are constantly patrolling campus.