Why Our Campuses Are Safer Without Concealed Handguns
The overwhelming majority of the more than 4,400 colleges and universities in the United States prohibit students, faculty and visitors from carrying concealed handguns on campus. Following mass shootings at Virginia Tech
(2007) and Northern Illinois University (2008), the gun lobby began pushing legislation in several states that would take away the right of a college or university to regulate firearms on campus.
Over the last several years, bills have been introduced in nearly 40 states across the country that would change state laws and allow anyone with a concealed weapon permit to carry loaded, concealed guns on college campuses.
The Case Against Allowing Concealed Guns on Campus
Safe Campuses
• Despite high-profile shootings like VA Tech and NIU, homicides at American colleges and universities remain rare events.
• In 2013, the homicide rate at post secondary education institutions was 0.1 per 100,000 of enrollment and by comparison the criminal homicide rate in the United States was 4.4 per 100,000.1
• A 2001 study by the U.S. Department of Education found that the overall homicide rate at postsecondary education institutions was 0.07 per 100,000 of enrollment in 1999. By comparison, the criminal homicide rate in the United States was 5.7 per 100,000 persons overall in 1999, and 14.1 per 100,000 for persons ages 17 to 29.2
• Another study, conducted by the Department of Justice, found that 93% of violent crimes that victimize college students occur off campus.3 This research demonstrates conclusively that students on the campuses of post-secondary institutions are significantly safer than both their off-campus counter- parts and the nation as a whole.
Costs associated with complying with state mandate allowing weapons on campus
• In 2015, Florida’s state colleges estimated $74 million in new costs to cover a full police force, unarmed security supplemented with armed police, armed security force, and an unarmed security. University of Central Florida estimated costs at $1.1 million a year. Valencia College estimated costs at $7 million in the first year alone.
• A (Feb. 2015) report stated that the University of Houston and University of Texas systems would incur charges up to $47 million to respond to the new guns on campus law. Costs include gun safes, additional training for faculty, staff, and campus security, and signage.
• In 2014, the new campus carry law cost Idaho public colleges $3.7 to enhance security and add metal detectors to venues that house more than 1,000 individuals.
• The Kansas Board of Regents has estimated costs between $5m – $9m in new security costs.
Campus Law Enforcement Opposition
• The International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, Inc. (IACLEA) issued the following statement. “IACLEA Board of directors believes ‘conceal carry’ initiatives do not make campuses safer. There is no credible evidence to suggest that the presence of students carrying concealed weapons would reduce violence on our college campuses. See: IACLEA, Concealed Carrying of Firearms Proposals on College Campuses (Aug. 12, 2008).
Concealed carry permit holders are not always “law-abiding” citizens
• For example, according to the Violence Policy Center, a growing body of evidence shows that allowing private citizens to carry concealed handguns in public creates a new public safety threat, and – contrary to the assertions of proponents – such systems do not reduce crime. Since May 2007 concealed handgun permit holders have killed at least 17 law enforcement officers and 763 private citizens (See: http://concealedcarrykillers.com).
Increased Risk of Suicide
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college age young adults, exceeded only by accidental death (mostly from motor vehicle accidents). On average, about 1,100 college students commit suicide each year while another 24,000 attempt suicide.4 The risk is even higher with graduate students. Whereas suicide attempts by overdosing on drugs (the most common method) are fatal only about 3% of the time, suicide attempts with firearms are fatal more than 90% of the time. It goes without saying that making firearms more available to college students will make it more likely that more of the 24,000 unsuccessful suicide attempts each year will be fatal.
Work Place Safety
• A North Carolina study found that workplaces allowing workers to carry firearms and other weapons at work were 5-7 times more likely to be the site of an on-the-job homicide compared to workplaces that prohibited workers from carrying weapons. The North Carolina study confirms that just as residents of households with guns are more likely to become a victim of a homicide in the home, workers who work in places that allow guns are more likely to be killed while at work.5
Additional Arguments Against Concealed Carry on Campus
“We want to prevent another Virginia Tech.”
• The Virginia Tech Review Panel Report specifically recommended against guns on campus. The panel “recommends that guns be banned on campus grounds and in buildings” (VI-5) Campus Rape /Sexual Assault
• Sexual assaults are rarely perpetrated by strangers. 90% of college sexual assaults are committed by someone the victim knows.6 33.9% of targeted sexual assaults on campuses are perpetrated by intimate partners.7
• A 2007 study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University found that “[N]early half of America’s 5.4 million full-time college students abuse drugs or drink alcohol on binges at least once a month.”
• Perpetrators often use alcohol/drugs to incapacitate victims and/or prey on intoxicated women. 89% of campus sexual assaults involve drugs and/or alcohol.8 Guns will not protect victims in these situations.
• The perpetrator, now too, can be legally armed.
• Statistics show that women are 500% times more likely to be killed by an intimate partner if a firearm is present.”
Crime rates have decreased on campuses that allow concealed guns.
• There is absolutely no statistical evidence that crime rates have decreased on the public campuses in Colorado in Utah.
• Since Colorado has allowed campus carry (2012-2013), the rate of rape has increased 25% in 2012 and 36% in 2013 (15.2 and 20.8 per 100,000 respectively).
• In Utah since campus carry has been permitted (2004), the rape statistics have fluctuated greatly over the past ten years with the last four years going from 6.6 – 10.7 – 9.3 – 14 (2013) per 100,000. The difference between 2012 and 2013 accounted for nearly a 50% increase. (http://keepgunsoffcampus.org/blog/2015/03/17/the-campaignto-keep-guns-off-campus-new-study-shows-that-on-campus-crime-rates-have-increased-in-two-states-where-concealed-carry-on-campus-isallowed/)
Faculty and Students Strongly Oppose Guns on Campus
Faculty oppose guns on campus
• A 2013 poll of faculty members at 15 colleges across Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin found that 94 percent opposed concealed carry on campus.9
Students oppose guns on campus
• A 2013 poll of students at 15 Midwest colleges found that 78 percent opposed allowing concealed handguns on campus, and 79 percent said that they would not feel safe if faculty, students, or visitors were allowed to bring concealed guns onto their campuses.10
States that have signed guns on campus bills, along with Court rulings overturning policies prohibiting guns on campus
• Utah (2004) became the first state to allow guns on campus. State-supported colleges and universities must allow conceal carry licensees – students, faculty, staff, and visitors – to carry concealed weapons on campus grounds and in all buildings.
• Oklahoma (2011) – Concealed handgun license holders can carry on campus only in specified areas, including in vehicles in parking lots, on property authorized for possession or use of handguns by school policy, or on property authorized by college/university president.
• Wisconsin (2011) – Concealed handgun license holders can be limited to where they carry on campus. Colleges and universities can prohibit weapons in buildings if signs are posted at every entrance. All state supported colleges and universities have installed signs.
• Mississippi (2011) – Concealed handgun license holders with “enhanced” training can carry on campus.
• Georgia (2012) – Concealed handgun license holders may have weapon in a vehicle if he/she is picking up or dropping off a student or when he/she has a weapon legally kept within a vehicle parked on school property.
• Arkansas (2013) – Faculty and staff members permitted to carry concealed can do so on campus unless the governing board of each institution decides to opt out. All state-supported colleges and universities (as well as private colleges) in Arkansas have chosen to opt out for two years running. (2015) Concealed handgun license holders can store guns in cars in campus public parking lots.
• Kansas (2013) – Concealed handgun license holders will be able to carry on campus grounds and in buildings unless security is provided at every entrance. Colleges and universities were given 4 years to comply with new law.
• North Carolina (2013) – Concealed handgun license holders can store guns in cars in campus parking lots.
• Texas (2013) – Concealed handgun license holders (CHLs) can store or transport a firearm or ammunition in a locked, privately owned or leased motor vehicle (1) on a street or driveway located on campus or (2) in a parking lot, parking garage, or other campus parking area. (2015) – By 2016, four year public colleges must allow CHL holders to carry weapons on campus but can limit locations if approved by at least a one- third vote of the Board of Regents. The same provision takes effect for two-year schools in 2017.
• Idaho (2014) – Concealed handgun license holders with “enhanced” training can carry on campus (excludes dormitories and public entertainment facilities with seating capacity greater than 1,000).
Court rulings in four states have overturned long-standing policy of prohibiting firearms on college campuses.
• Oregon (2011) – The Oregon Court of Appeals held that Oregon public colleges and universities no longer have authority to ban weapons on the physical grounds of a campus. Each school does however, have discretion as to whether to permit concealed handguns inside buildings, dormitories, event centers, and classrooms. Private colleges and universities may still prohibit weapons throughout the entire campus including grounds.
• Colorado (2012) – The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the University of Colorado’s policy of prohibiting firearms on campus violated the state’s conceal carry law. University of Colorado must now allow conceal carry licensees to carry on campus.
• Kentucky (2012) – The Kentucky Supreme Court handed down a decision in Mitchell v. University of Kentucky, et al. stating that the statute in question forbids a public organization, such as a university, from prohibiting the possession of a firearm in the glove compartment of a vehicle. Concealed weapons on other parts of campus are still forbidden.
• Florida (2014) – Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeals declared that universities could not prevent students (with concealed carry permits) from storing firearms in their cars.
1 Clery Act Data (U.S. Dept. of Education) and FBI Uniform Crime Reports 2013
2 U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, “The Incidence of Crime on the Campuses of U.S. Postsecondary Education Institutions,” p. 5, http://www2.ed.gov/finaid/prof/resources/finresp/ReportToCongress.pdf
3 U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Violent Victimization of College Students, 1995-2002,” p. 1, http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvcs02.pdf
4 M. Cintron, College Campuses Grapple with Escalating Suicide Rates at www.nearwestgazeette.com.
5 D. Loomis, S Marshall, and M. Ta, Employer Policies Toward Guns and the Risk of Homicide in the Workplace, American Journal of Public Health, May 2005
6 Sampson, R. (n.d.). Acquaintance rape of college students. Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, 17.
7 Drysdale, D. A., Modzeleksi, W., & Simons, A. B. (2010). Campus attacks: Targeted violence affecting institutions of higher education. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/campus-attacks/campus-attacks#findings.
8 Krebs, C. P., Lindquist, C. H., Warner, T. D., Fisher, & B. S., Martin, S. L. (2009). College women’s experiences with physically forced, alcohol- or other drug-enabled, and drug-facilitated sexual assault before and since entering college. Journal of American College Health, 57(6), 639-649.
9 http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/01/20/professors-against-guns-on-campus.html
10 http://cms.bsu.edu/news/articles/2013/9/students-say-no-to-concealed-weapons-on-campus
