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US public universities are fighting new attempts to allow guns on campuses, with conservative state lawmakers undeterred by limited research data and clear opposition from institutional leaders.<\/p>\n
The most recent instance involves West Virginia, where the state senate voted 29-4 in favour of legislation to let people bring firearms on to college and university campuses, despite pleas from state university leaders. The bill heads next to the state legislature\u2019s other chamber, the House of Delegates, which is also overwhelmingly dominated by Republicans.<\/p>\n
The US already has about a dozen states that permit guns on college campuses, with lawmakers in several others already trying or expected to pursue the idea this year, according to the activist group Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe gun lobby is trying to find as many places as possible where people can carry,\u201d said the organisation\u2019s executive director, Andy Pelosi.<\/p>\n
In West Virginia, the presidents of the state\u2019s two largest higher education institutions, West Virginia University<\/a> and Marshall University<\/a>, wrote to the lawmakers urging them not to pass<\/a> the bill.<\/p>\n Governing boards \u201care best suited to decide whether guns should be permitted on campus\u201d, Gordon Gee and Brad Smith told senators.<\/p>\n West Virginia University<\/a>\u2019s faculty senate also approved a resolution opposing the bill.<\/p>\n States that already allow guns on the campuses of their public colleges and universities include Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin.<\/p>\n New York lawmakers are being asked to join them, despite the state\u2019s Democratic majority, while more plausible campaigns appear possible this year in several other states, including Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina and South Dakota. Idaho lawmakers are considering legislation that would stop colleges putting limits on where guns can be carried.<\/p>\n The fatal shootings last May of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, seems to have sparked an increase in political interest in allowing guns in educational settings, said Cheryl Jonson, associate professor of criminal justice at Ohio\u2019s Xavier University<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last year, gun control campaigners in Arizona managed a narrow victory against a bill to permit weapons on campuses, and the state\u2019s change this year to a Democratic governor solidifies that win, Mr Pelosi said.<\/p>\n While the university presidents in West Virginia have fought back, their colleagues in other states are sometimes more reluctant, Mr Pelosi said, given their fear of antagonising politicians responsible for controlling their budgets and policies.<\/p>\n Another challenge, Mr Pelosi acknowledged, was the relative lack of research data specific to the cases of college campuses. There is\u00a0plentiful research evidence<\/a> showing that more guns in society<\/a> lead to more violence and death<\/a>, and some studies that link guns to increased crime on campuses, he said. But findings specific to college settings are limited by the fact that most states that allow guns on campuses do not track how many people actually carry them, he said.<\/p>\n But overall, Mr Pelosi\u2019s group and others point out that in a nation with more than 40,000 gun deaths per year, university campuses are already among the safest places to be. And there\u2019s no clear evidence<\/a> \u2013 despite West Virginia lawmakers pushing their \u201cCampus Self-Defense Act<\/a>\u201d on the grounds that it will help women deter sexual violence \u2013 that guns make a college campus safer, Mr Pelosi said. Women\u2019s advocacy groups instead are among numerous campus constituencies especially opposed to such laws, he said, fearing that gun permissiveness will help arm their potential attackers<\/a>.<\/p>\n paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n