Campus Carry Controversy Analysis

On August 1, 2016, senate bill 11 (S.B. 11) was put into effect, which allows for the carrying of concealed handguns on Texas public institution campuses by license to carry a handgun (LTC) holders (Campus Carry UTSA). There has been lots of controversy over this new law, especially since there were 23 shootings on college campuses in 2015 alone. In this essay, I plan to explain the stipulations of this new law and why it is controversial.

August 1 marks the day which the state’s new Campus Carry law was enacted. This law which comply with Senate Bill 11, has authorized a licensed holder to carry concealed handgun at University of Texas at Austin and other public universities in Texas. The implementation of this law have risen controversy between the stakeholders which are the faculty members, students, parents, staffers and alumni. In regard to this, President Fenves has assigned a Campus Carry Working Group to guide the implementation of Senate Bill 11 which complies the law and at the same time ensuring the safety of the campus.

Many students and faculty members fear that allowing weapons on campus may cause tension and hostility or even cause minor situations to rapidly escalate. Others feel as if open carry on campus is missing link to reducing the number of school shootings across the country. When it comes to allowing firearms on campus, some of the most important factors to consider are: how active shooter situations will be handled, why it is important to be on alert, and should first responders be the only one responsible campus safety.

HB 910, better known as the Open-Carry Bill is a bill that was passed on May 29, 2015 and signed into law by Governor Jim Abbott after it cleared both chambers of the Legislature. The Open-Carry Bill allows licensed holders to carry concealed handguns on public college campuses. Abbott claims that the bill will not only strengthen Texans second amendment rights, it will secure them (The Associated Press, 2015). However, the bill has raised questions regarding the safety of students and faculty on college campuses. As a team, we initiated our research by questioning the results of how the bill will affect college campuses across Texas. The objective of our research is to gather qualitative and quantitative data that defines

We are seeing a growing number of states bringing forth campus carry to their legislation. Some states leave it up to the individual college or university to decide to allow concealed carry, while others outright ban it. However, Texas passed Senate Bill 11 which allowed for licensed gun holders to carry a concealed handgun on university grounds. Texas was the eighth state to allow concealed campus carry. Now Georgia and Tennessee are beginning to make efforts. House Bill 280 has recently passed through Georgia’s legislature and is now awaiting the Governor's approval or denial. In Tennessee, full-time employees have been able to carry concealed weapons as of July of 2016, now they are pushing to expand the law to part-time employees as well.

Republican Senator Brian Birdwell introduced the Texas Senate Bill 11, also known as the Campus Carry Bill, to the House and Senate on January 26, 2015. With Texas being a highly conservative state, supporters of this bill were largely consisted of Republicans and gun-rights activists. Many supporters, especially pro-gun individuals, argued the second amendment would be violated by not allowing those with a concealed handgun license (CHL) to carry a concealed gun on campus. They also believed guns can be utilized as a form of self-defense to further support the passage of this bill.

As of this present day, concealed handguns are now allowed to be carried anywhere on all Texas public universities. This shocking dispensation, from earlier prohibiting regulations, is now enforced by the new law in the state of Texas. This law is known as S.B. 11 or Senate Bill 11. For those of you who don’t know how a bill becomes a law, it’s a long, crazy process. The fact that this bill made it through every step of it is an insane thought that questions, how?

On April 16th 2007 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a student with psychological problems began a two hour killing spree that left 33 dead (Reader). The massacre that occurred at this school is now the worst recorded incident in the history of the United States and eclipses the University of Texas massacre of 1966. In the wake of tragedies like these, students, teachers and administrators propose more measures to make us feel safe on campus. But why weren't these measures in place before? School administrators and police have a responsibility to protect their students and faculty on campus, and these instances clearly shown a lack of fulfilling that responsibility. And yet several campus' refuse to allow law-abiding and

There is much controversy over whether or not students should be able to bring guns on college campuses. The new law, to be implemented in the year of 2016, gives students ages 21 or older to carry concealed weapons on campus. The thought of the new law puts fear in the hearts of some Americans when thinking about the safety of themselves or loved ones. While the bill has been passed, allowing guns onto a college campus should not be allowed.

Gov. Greg Abbott stopped at a gun range to sign into law bills letting Texans carry concealed handguns on college campuses and openly carry them virtually everywhere else. The Republican made expanding gun rights a top priority of his first legislative session as governor.Texas was one of the few states that doesn’t already allow licensed residents to wear handguns holstered, or otherwise in plain sight.The “campus carry” bill passed despite staunch opposition from leaders of the state’s top universities — but includes a concession

To ensure the safety of students as well as professors and staff, open carry should be prohibited on college campuses. When open carry on college/university campuses was introduced, it caused chaos all over the United States. Allowing campus open carry would decrease the number of students because they would feel unsafe. Knowing that students are carrying more than just textbooks in their bags is not reassuring. School should be a safe environment and no one should ever have to feel like they need a dangerous weapon to be carried with them in order to feel safe.

The arguments against open carry on campus follow the same lines as arguments against concealed carry on campus. Since open carry as a whole is a relatively new subject in the debate about gun control, the statistics used will have to be from the concealed carry studies. While these are two different things, they are fundamentally the same. The major arguments are that it will increase crime, that the gun could go off on accident and injure someone, a person could also snap and go on a killing spree, and that there is no need for guns as police already carry and protect the school. The first argument to look at is that it will increase the crime rate on campus and in the surrounding areas. According to a peer-reviewed study in the Econ Journal Watch, “shall issue” laws saw an increase in aggravated assaults between 1977 and 2006. A paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research also found, between 1977 and 2010, an increase of 2% in murder rates in “shall issue” states. Criminals are more likely to carry a gun when they think a potential victim could have one. This is according to a survey of incarcerated felons by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research in which 75% of the felons agreed with this mentality.

The NRA has many influential members and is known for its rigorous defense of the Second Amendment. When Governor Abbott signed into law SB11, the allowing of concealed weapons on Texas campuses, the NRA considered it a victory. However, Students for Concealed Carry, also a gun lobbying group, was disappointed. Tyler Kingkade, Senior Editor/Reporter for the Huffington Post wrote an article on June 6,2015 titled "Guns on Campus Bill Passes in Texas, But Gun Activists Are Not Happy."(Kingkade) "Under the legislation, students who are at least 21 years old and licensed to carry a concealed firearm will be permitted to bring their guns on campus. However, the bill's original version was amended to allow college presidents to set limits on which buildings students can bring guns into," Kingkade writes.(Kingkade) Students for Concealed Carry consider the amendment to be a defeat. The gun control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, considers the amendment a victory. The NRA is happy that colleges can not keep guns off

Overall, gun rights groups during the last few sessions seems to have been focused more on open carry than on campus carry. The usual groups such as the NRA and the Texas State Rifle Association testified in support of campus carry during public hearings; however through the media the group has declared they are unhappy with the bill’s provision giving university leaders discretion to prohibit guns in certain buildings. On the other hand opposing groups, such as “Moms Demand Action” and “Texans for Gun Sense” banded together against the bill and although it might have seemed like a lost, they made some changes to the bill which they referred to as “drastic improvements”. Arguably, the biggest losers in the campus carry battle are the ordinary Texans, not because college students are going to be met with an entourage of guns, but because about only 3 percent of Texans possess concealed handgun licenses; to add on to that few of those are likely to be students, since a person must be 21 years of age or older to qualify. Texans lost because the campus carry debate took up an inordinate amount of energy and time precious resources for a Legislature

Many Black and Latin voters in the state of Texas absolutely do not support any such idea of the campus carry. This has been said due to a most recent poll that was taken by the Urban Policy Research and