Thanks to a surge in changing regulations, many student’s first-day-of-college checklist could read something like this: textbooks, check; laptop, check; handgun, check.
Inside Higher Ed reports that just last week, “the Oregon Court of Appeals overturned a longstanding rule of the state university system that prohibited guns on its campuses, making it legal for concealed carry permit-holders to carry anywhere on public college grounds.” Of course, this is just the latest in a list of gun-related state measures that have made it more likely that firearms will be turning up across America’s campuses. Last year, a Colorado court overturned a ban on permit-holders bringing their guns to campus, and earlier this year Wisconsin and Mississippi passed laws that allowed anyone with a concealed-weapons permit to carry a gun on a public campus.
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Unsurprisingly, many colleges across these states aren’t thrilled with the loosened laws and are looking for ways to ensure some gun control. The Oregon university system may appeal the overturning of the rule, but in the meantime they’re considering ways to enact clauses that prevents students from bringing guns to certain events, like football games, or into certain buildings, like dorms. Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, many colleges are hastily putting up signs on every entrances of college buildings, that prohibit guns. According to the new rules, as long as every entrance has such a sign even permit-holders are forbidden from carrying guns indoors.
Inside Higher Ed also points out that advocates of the policies like the ones Oregon, Wisconsin and Mississippi have instated, often point out that having their firearms on them makes them feel safer. Which is fine, but what about their co-ed classmates?