Proposed bill to allow students and faculty to carry guns on campus

Universities in 10 states, including Oklahoma, may allow students to carry concealed guns on campus.

According to the New York Times, lawmakers in 10 states are pushing for a lift on the ban of firearms on college campuses to deter rape and other potential sexual assaults.

“It reflects a misunderstanding of sexual assault in general,” Oklahoma State University Professor John Foubert said in the article. “If you have a rape situation, usually it starts with some sort of consensual behavior, and by the time it switches to nonconsensual, it would be nearly impossible to run for a gun. Maybe if it’s someone who raped you before and it coming back, it theoretically could make [him or her] feel more secure.”

Support for campus-carry laws have been hard to come by in the past, despite the efforts of lobbyists who insist that mass shootings like the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 could be avoided if students were allowed to carry their own concealed weapons for protection.

“Our campus is pretty open and open enough to see what’s going on so you don’t walk into a bad situation,” Dean of Students Neil Arter said. “I think there are certainly a lot of steps I would like to see us take before we go to that extreme.”

There are currently 41 states that hold a ban on carrying concealed weapons, either by state or university policy.

“I think it is something that should not be considered on campuses,” junior Allana Reames said. “Women shouldn’t need guns to feel safe on a college campus. Oklahoma Christian wouldn’t feel like ‘home’ to me if I knew half the student body was carrying guns.”

This year, lawmakers in 10 states – Florida, Nevada, Indiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming – are all proposing to pass these bills to protect students from sexual assault. The Florida bill was passed last month after a House subcommittee debate.

“Not everyone that has a concealed carrying license should be able to have a gun on campus,” senior Connor Lankford said. “There are a lot of reasons why someone may pass the test, but still not be in sound enough mind to have a gun on campus.”

Opponents of this bill argue that universities should remain safe havens of gun-related risks, especially with the high rates of binge drinking, recklessness and drug abuse, which would make universities more prone to gun-related accidents.

“I understand the idea behind it, but I believe it would significantly raise the chances of any gun related incident on campus, including gun related fatalities,” Lankford said. “There is a lot of drinking done, even on Christian campuses, being at a party drunk or just drunk in general and packing heat is a recipe for disaster.”

Since Oklahoma Christian is a private institution, they can decide whether or not to abide by the gun bill if passed.

“This is an issue that should be addressed among the faculty and staff and security of campuses,” Reames said. “How to make sure the student body feels safe enough to not need to carry weapons should be the main concern, not arming everyone with guns that could lead to an even more severe and dangerous situation.”

Arter said an alternative to carrying guns on campus could be teaching self-defense classes to assure safety on campus for both men and women.

“I want our campus to be safe and I think right now at least it would be best to not have guns on campus,” Arter said.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives will vote in the near future on the proposed bill.

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