Free Republic

Freshman state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, filed a bill on Thursday that would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry weapons on college campuses. The measure is similar to a bill filed by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, one week earlier. Campus carry has been a controversial topic for multiple sessions and has come back into the spotlight after an argument on a Lone Star College campus in North Houston on Monday led to gunfire and multiple injuries. For opponents of campus carry, the takeaway is that more guns lead to more harm on otherwise safe campuses. For supporters, such...

Despite the struggles to find an adviser to support Students for Concealed Carry (a pro-concealed carry club) has not yet given up in pursuing the club’s recognition. The club has been trying to find an adviser since last spring in order to gain recognition from the Associated Students of the University of Arizona. In the past three weeks, more than 700 emails were sent out to faculty and staff, requesting an adviser. Greg Collins, a public management and policy senior and organizer of the unrecognized club, said he plans to continue emailing faculty and staff despite missing the deadline for...

Make no mistake, Assemblyman William Horne (D-Las Vegas) is almost assuredly the most anti-gun state legislator you’ll find in Nevada. Indeed, Horne single-handedly killed a bill in the last legislative session that would have allowed individuals who are properly licensed to carry concealed weapons to do so on college campuses. The bill was known as the Amanda Collins Act - named for the 25-year-old young woman who was brutally raped at gunpoint in a UNR parking garage with no means to protect herself because current law bans guns on campus. The victim in this case abided by the law. The...

BOULDER, Colo. -- The University of Colorado is barring students with concealed carry permits from bringing guns into dorms on its Boulder campus. The policy announced Thursday is in response to a March 5 Colorado Supreme Court ruling that said CU can't ban permit holders from bringing guns to campus. The university also said graduate students who live in university housing off the main campus will be able to have guns in their apartments if they're kept in a safe.

Second Amendment advocates on the federal and state stages can take a cue from Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a national organization fighting for a fundamental civil right on university and college campuses. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus won a huge victory on March 4, when the Colorado Supreme Court affirmed a lower-court ruling that a policy on four Colorado state university campuses that banned handguns for everyone but law-enforcement officers was unlawful. The ruling follows an Oregon Court of Appeals decision in late September that overturned a longstanding rule of the state university system, which, like Colorado,...

Virginia Tech was the site of one of the bloodiest school shootings in the history of the United States. On that day a single gunman killed 33 people and injured 25 more before he took his own life. Many of us on this site believe the vast majority of those deaths could have been prevented by a single legally armed citizen and their firearm, but thanks to gun-free school laws and policies every victim was unarmed and defenseless. The Virginia Civil Defense League, Virginia’s firearms owner rights protection group, just announced their plans to hold a protest on November 17th...

Florida - -(Ammoland.com)- The statewide chapters of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus will be holding empty holster events very soon. We need your unwanted OWB and field type holsters. Busted Fobus, worn out OWB, or that old military holster sitting in the drawer, we have a home for them that can help expand gun rights in the state of FL! Please mail your holster donation to: Students for Concealed Carry C/O Florida Carry 1090 Wild Holly Dr Port Orange, FL. 32129-4055 Cash is also welcome to support our efforts in support of Carry Issues in Florida! Donate Now!...

A ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals this week is causing no small degree of consternation among Beaver State university officials, and their colleagues north of the Columbia River might want to give the issue some attention because it overrules campus bans on firearms thanks to Oregon’s preemption statute. Washington adopted state preemption in 1983 and strengthened it two years later. The Evergreen State law has become a model for preemption statutes in several other states. Yet here in Washington, universities and colleges still prohibit even legally-licensed students, staff and teachers from being armed on campus, under state administrative...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — The state appeals court has ruled that the Oregon University System cannot ban guns on college campuses.

Two women, victims of gun violence in gun-free zones, opened the Aug. 6 National Self-Defense Conference in Washington organized by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus and the Second Amendment Foundation. Had the law allowed the women to carry their guns, they would not have been attacked, said Amanda Collins, who was then a student at the Reno campus of the University of Nevada when she was attacked. The second woman, Nikki Goeser, said she blamed the gun violence that she experienced on gun control laws. Goeser said her husband was shot and killed in a bar in April 2009...

On August 8th, Students for Concealed Carry are supposed to have a national convention in DC. The main liaison for the group dropped the ball and didn't do his job coordinating things. As a result, the convention is in desperate need to get a lot more bodies at the convention than we are currently looking to get. We should have at least 100 and we are at only about 40, and I am not completely sure that is for certain. Are there any college age or 20-something or even 30 something people who you know who could attend? At this...

The Second Amendment Foundation just posted this on their Facebook page a few minutes ago. C-Span 3 will be covering the SAF-Students for Concealed Carry on Campus joint forum live on Monday. Details below: If you can't be at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Monday August 8th you can still watch live on C-SPAN 3 at Noon Eastern Time!Check your local cable listings, or visit http://www.c-span.org/ for live streaming. SAF, SCCC HOSTING ‘SUPPORTING CAMPUS CONCEALED CARRY’ FORUM AUGUST 8th The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in cooperation with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), is hosting a...

RICHMOND — A gun scare Thursday at Virginia Tech rekindled the debate about carrying firearms at state-run universities. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli recently waded into the debate. In an official advisory opinion, Cuccinelli found a University of Virginia gun policy too restrictive and lacking in authority. The opinion, released last month, said that a George Mason University regulation, which has the force of law, unlike a policy, offered a legal way to restrict firearms inside classroom buildings or at campus events but still allow weapons outdoors. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the George Mason regulation but found that universities can’t...

The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation is hosting a forum next Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and a highlight of the event – which is held in cooperation with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus – will be a debate between Colin Goddard with the Brady Campaign and economist John Lott, author of More Guns = Less Crime. SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb will be there, along with attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued both of this century’s landmark Second Amendment cases before the Supreme Court, District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v....

The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation is hosting a forum next Monday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and a highlight of the event – which is held in cooperation with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus – will be a debate between Colin Goddard with the Brady Campaign and economist John Lott, author of More Guns = Less Crime. SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb will be there, along with attorney Alan Gura, who successfully argued both of this century’s landmark Second Amendment cases before the Supreme Court, District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v....

SAF, SCCC Hosting ‘Supporting Campus Concealed Carry Forum August 8th 2011 BELLEVUE, WA --(Ammoland.com)- The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in cooperation with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), is hosting a forum “Supporting Concealed Carry on Campus” on Monday, August 8th at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Noon to 5 p.m. The forum is free and open to the public. This event will feature a Gun Free Zones debate between Colin Goddard of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and John Lott, author of More Guns, Less Crime. An academic panel that includes Prof. Nelson Lund...

Military.com is reporting that Ensign Sean Barner, from Stone Mountain, Ga., was recently awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions on May 3, 2009. Barner protected at least ten lives when he intervened and stopped two armed assailants during an attempted robbery and then provided immediate medical assistance by applying tourniquets to one of the gun shot wounded victims. The incident made national headlines, and sparked calls for legalizing concealed carry on college campuses. A BuckeyeFirearms.org article about Barner's actions, and lamenting the fact that Ohio's college students are not allowed to exercise their Second Amendment rights,...

We’ve talked here before about the “guns on campus” issue. Adults in the higher education environment do so (or want to) primarily for two reasons: a hedge against “school shooting” horrors, and for routine protection against muggers, rapists, etc. who consider “gun free zones” to be safe game preserves in which to hunt human victims. Here, however, is a third good reason. It comes verbatim from one of my graduates, who spends his days at a major institution of higher education as a grad student and researcher, in a letter he sent to a state senator: “I am a graduate...

As college students across the country prepare to convene in the nation’s capitol to discuss college gun bans on August 8th, two more states have expanded the right to carry concealed weapons on campus. Wisconsin became the 49th state to decriminalize bearing arms for defense when Governor Scott Walker signed SB 93 into law on July 8. The law, which goes into effect in November, removes the state prohibition on concealed carry, limiting possession of firearms on K-12 institutions but excluding college campuses. “Carrying a concealed weapon for protection is no longer a criminal offense in Wisconsin,” said David Burnett,...

They always seem to ask, “If you think guns should be allowed on college campuses, do you think concealed carry should be allowed on planes, as well? Where does it end?” Those who advocate for gun rights on college campuses beg the same question, “Where does it end?” Where do restrictions on our basic freedoms end? Where does nanny state regulation and oversight end? Where does stripping the Constitution of its authenticity and integrity end? The argument for concealed carry on campus is not an argument for permitting guns on planes, in bars, or anywhere else. It is an argument...

“Legislation allowing concealed weapons on public university campuses thankfully was shot down again this week,” an editorial in TheNewsStar.com pronounces. The editors are expressing gratitude for the failure of House Bill 413 by Rep. Ernest Wooton to make it out of the Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice after the panel voted 8 – 3 on Wednesday to kill the bill. In other words, they are grateful the political overclass has told them and everyone else "No, you may not have a choice in matters pertaining to defending your own lives--we will mandate those decisions for you." “No college...

2theadvocate > Blogs > Louisiana Politics Guns on campus bill killed in committee Posted by Jordan Blum | Capitol News Bureau | on June 1, 2011 | 3:00 p.m. UPDATED 7:32 p.m. Travis Spradling/The Advocate State Rep. Ernest Wooton, No Party-Belle Chasse, testifies Wednesday for a bill that would permit allowing concealed handgun permit owners to carry concealed handguns on college campuses. The bill failed in the House committee Wooton chairs. Legislation that would have allowed handguns on college campuses died quickly Wednesday in a Louisiana House committee without any public testimony allowed because of a time crunch. House Bill...

CARSON CITY — Of all the problems facing the beleaguered Nevada System of Higher Education, which one seems so urgent that the Legislature would take it up? Perhaps it’s how to deal with deep budget cuts, which will be at least $200 million when you count the loss of federal stimulus money? Or access for underprivileged students? Or graduation rates? Or the division of resources between UNR and UNLV? Well, if you guessed any of those, you’d be wrong. The real pressing issue? We’ve got to make it easier for people to carry concealed firearms on campus. Hell yeah! Now,...

The Nevada Senate has voted 15-6 to allow anyone who has a permit to carry concealed weapons to bring them on college campuses.

Supporters refute notion that concealed carry laws lead to higher gun violence BATON ROUGE, La. – In a legislative session filled with bills to heavily alter Louisiana’s higher education system, students of public universities and colleges may soon experience one more adjustment: concealed weapons on campus. HB 413, sponsored by Representative Ernest Wooton (I – Belle Chase), would allow licensed individuals to bring concealed firearms onto campuses of public universities, colleges, and post-secondary vocational schools. The bill was introduced to the House on April 25. The state’s 36,000 concealed handgun permit holders would have the same self-defense rights they possess...

Do you like this Article? “Campus carry passes Texas Senate,” attorney David Kopel reports at The Volokh Conspiracy.* Campus carry already passed the House as a stand-alone bill, so it seems likely that the House will concur with the Senate amendment. Texas Governor Rick Perry has repeatedly indicated his support for the measure. Jack Burch, CEO of Hill Country Shooting Sports Center and a politically involved right to keep and bear arms activist, offered a look at the political process via an email to Gun Rights Examiner: Today the second amendment was dealt a good hand. During a series of...

AUSTIN, Texas — AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Texas senators have voted to allow concealed handgun license holders to carry their weapons into public college classrooms.

Tennessee state Sen. Stacey Campfield has introduced legislation this year that would allow any full-time faculty member or staffer at a public university to have a concealed weapon on campus if they have a handgun-carry permit. Campfield, a Republican whose district includes the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, said he received a letter from a UT student with concerns about a troubled student in her class, according to a report in The Commercial Appeal. Gun violence on college campuses in recent years also factored into Campfield’s decision. He said he introduced the legislation as a “constitutionalist.” “Colleges are great about defending the...

AUSTIN, Texas --(Ammoland.com)- Texas College Republicans (TCR) call for Senator Steve Ogden (R- Bryan) to vote for SB 354 to be heard on the Senate floor, reversing his current position. TCR has been closely following this campus safety bill, which allows concealed carry on campus, and have declared it their top legislative priority for this session. The Texas Senate requires a two-thirds majority, or 21 votes, before a bill can be heard on the Senate Floor. Currently, 18 Republicans and two Democrats have promised to vote to hear the bill—one more vote is needed. Ogden is the only Republican Senator...

SB 1467, the AzCDL-requested Campus Carry bill, was vetoed by Governor Brewer on April 18, 2011. SB 1467 would simply have prevented the governing boards of colleges and universities from prohibiting the “lawful possession or carrying of a weapon on a public right-of-way.” That covers streets, sidewalks, etc. open to public use. Her press conference cited concerns about the lack of a definition of a “public right of way” that sounded suspiciously similar to the complaints of the anti-rights forces that have been bombarding the governor and urging her to veto the bill. Apparently, the fact that the term “public...

The week-long observance of "Second Amendment Week" at Oregon State University culminates today with a drawing for an AR-15 rifle and accessories. The annual observance is hosted by the College Republicans of OSU. The winner of the rifle will have to pass a background check, be at least 18 years old, have no felony convictions, be a legal resident of the State of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, or Nevada or must prove residency within 90 days. The College Republicans will have a booth set up on the quad outside the Memorial Union, under a tent. Interested, eligible persons can stop by...

Students and teachers toting guns around campus could be a reality in the not too distant future. SB 1467 would allow guns to be carried on public right-of-ways, such as campus sidewalks. The bill originally allowed guns to be brought into the classrooms. That provision has been cut. "Every legislative session there are bills introduced to weaken Arizona gun laws … It is time that the public stands up and says no more, that we want Arizona's approach to be rational. That we want to be able to make sure our facilities are safe and allowing weapons in many of...

A measure to allow faculty and staff to carry handguns on the campuses of Tennessee's public colleges and universities cleared its first legislative committee on Wednesday.

It seems that this year more than ever, increasing numbers of state legislatures are considering expanding concealed carry rights. As firearms are a hot-button issue, the print medium in particular has noticeably increased its coverage. One tactic the media love to employ is to interview and quote individuals on both sides of the issue, and when it comes to firearms, more opponents tend to be interviewed. But this is really a blessing in disguise as it offers proponents like ourselves a glimpse into the mind of the other side. In a recent Oxford Press article regarding concealed handguns on college...

A Senate bill that would allow concealed guns on college campuses is one vote shy of the 21 yeas needed for passage, after two Democrats — state Sens. Mario Gallegos (D-Houston) and Eddie Lucio (D-Brownville) — pulled their support over concerns from police and colleges in their districts. Following Senate adjournment this afternoon, Gallegos said he polled professors and students at the University of Houston Downtown and Central campuses as well as Houston Community College and found an “overwhelming majority” of students opposed the measure. Gallegos also said he took into account the objection by university chancellors. State Sen. Jeff...

I remember a few months ago when the guns-on-campus bill was introduced. I rejected it as nothing more than ludicrous Republican posturing. Apparently, I was wrong. In a 33-24 vote, Arizona passed SB 1467 — which allows guns to be carried on malls and streets that run through campus, but not in buildings. It now awaits Gov. Jan Brewer’s signature to become law. We are now the second state ever to pass legislation that allows guns on school campuses. Utah is the only other state with similar legislation. Has there been a sudden surge in gun-toting lunatics that I was...

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) The Texas Senate abruptly cut off debate Thursday as support weakened for a GOP-backed measure that would allow concealed handguns in college classrooms, but the bill's sponsor expressed confidence he could round up the necessary votes by early next week.

The latest attempt to expand gun owners’ rights in Arizona – by allowing them to carry their weapons on public college campuses – is now up to Gov. Jan Brewer. On Thursday, Senate Bill 1467, which had already cleared the Senate, passed in the House 33 to 24. It would allow people to carry their guns when walking or driving through campuses on public streets and sidewalks. The bill was narrowed from its original version, which would have allowed guns in campus buildings as well. Ever since the Virginia Tech massacre, advocates for allowing guns on campus have argued that...

FAIRFAX, Va. - To bear or not to bear arms? That is the question of the week at George Mason University. A group calling itself Students for Concealed Carry on Campus say this is "Gun Week" at George Mason. They are trying to call attention to their plight for the right to carry concealed weapons on the university property. Leading the charge is a former marine and current criminal justice major, Karolyn Galarza. "I have a concealed handgun permit for Virginia and I believe that I should be able to carry on campus because I have a concealed handgun permit,"...

The Senate State Affairs Committee is hearing HB 222 this morning, the guns-on-campus bill. Sponsor Erik Simpson, R-Idaho Falls, told the senators, “It is a basic human right to be able to protect yourself,” and said current law that permits Idaho colleges and universities to ban guns on campus creates “a false sense of security.” His bill would eliminate that ability for state colleges and universities, except in undergraduate residence halls. Joel Teuber of the Fraternal Order of Police, shown here answering questions from the committee, spoke in favor of the bill. He said, “I've heard that crime statistics at...

Faculty group opposes proposed weapons law, supporters cite self-defense The Nevada Legislature is looking at a bill that would allow students to carry guns and other concealed carry weapons on college campuses. Currently no one, including Nevada citizens who have concealed carry permits (CCWs), is allowed to bring firearms on university property without special permission from the university president, but S.B. 231 would make it legal to openly carry or conceal a firearm on UNLV’s campus without any permission at all. The bill was postponed after hours of discussion. Nevada university administrators are opposing the bill, which is sponsored by...

A bill that would take away the right of Idaho public universities and colleges to regulate their firearms policies has passed the Idaho State House of Representatives. House Bill 222, which Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted to introduce on March 10, now moves on to the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee, and if passed there, will go on to the Idaho State Senate. HB 222 would make it legal to carry guns on campuses, openly or with a concealment permit. Public colleges and universities in Idaho would no longer be able to regulate their firearm policies, except in undergraduate...

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Jim Bryce still finds it tough to return to the University of Texas after 45 years. Standing across Guadalupe Street this week, he stared at the exact place a sniper shot his friend, Sandra Wilson. "There were pops. Pop, pop, pop,” Bryce said. “The bullet that hit her blew off her left tricep." Bryce had just gotten out of class and was on his way to meet Wilson at a cafe when another student, Charles Whitman, 25, opened fire from the UT Tower. "We started telling people who were walking up and down all the hallways 'Don't...

Carson City, NV (KTNV) - She survived a horrific attack at the hands of a serial rapist, but she's hoping her story will help change the law and keep others safe. Amanda Collins was one of the victims targeted in a string of attacks in and around the University of Nevada Reno campus. While her attacker, James Biela, has been sentenced to the death penalty, she still fears for others. Collins says it's time for state lawmakers to listen up and allow Nevada students to carry guns on college campuses. The young woman plans to take her message to Carson...

Houston, Tx --(Ammoland.com)- On Tuesday, March 22, SB 354 by Senator Jeff Wentworth (R-San Antonio) will be heard in Senate Criminal Justice Committee. SB 354 will stop colleges and universities from expelling student-CHLs for having their handgun on the property of their college or in their cars. It will also stop colleges and universities from terminating their faculty and staff for the same activity. SB 354 goes on to remove the criminal penalty and allow CHL students, faculty and staff to have this option of self-defense with them in the buildings. Colleges can regulate storage for resident students and sporting...

The right of JMU students to wield guns was the hot topic the week before spring break. "The issue on our campus is that anyone is allowed to bring a gun on campus, but it's illegal for a student or faculty member to carry a [concealed] gun," said Emily Buck, a senior and co-chair of College Republicans. She said she is concerned that the current law infringes on students' ability to defend themselves if someone were to come on campus with a firearm. Buck said that even if an area is gun-free, that doesn't at all mean it is safe....

When Robert Rosinski first held a gun during boot camp, he didn't feel completely comfortable. But after a four-year tour of duty in Iraq, Rosinski—a sophomore at the UA studying civil engineering—now thinks of guns as empowering tools for safety, not things to be feared. "They aren't evil dragons," said Rosinski, president and founder of Students for the Second Amendment. "They are hunks of metal that shoot bullets." More guns may soon be present on Arizona's college campuses, thanks to Republicans in the state Legislature. On Monday, March 14, the state Senate voted 21-7, along party lines, in favor of...

W. Scott Lewis, a student at Austin Community College, says he "just wants the means to defend himself" should a gunman open fire on his classroom. He advocates changing state law to allow licensed handguns on campuses. "This is about personal security, not campus security," said the 31-year-old handgun licensee. "This is about changing the odds." Just as adamant with the opposite view is John Woods , a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin who was a Virginia Tech student in April 2007 when a lone gunman shot down 32 people, including several of his close friends....

There is a new bill being proposed this legislative session that will lift a campus gun ban. It is the first of its kind in the state of Nevada and the thought of allowing people to carry their gun legally on college campuses has stirred up quite the controversy. This also isn't an issue just being discussed here; people from across the country have used social media to express their opinion. "The thought of students on campuses with guns just doesn't sit well with me," said Mark Cooley, student at the University of Nevada, Reno. He said he would feel...

America's gun-rights debate has moved into some new territory that highlights the ideological divide separating gun-hating Eastern elites from Americans in fly-over country. Recent events in New York City, Washington D.C., and in gun-friendly fly-over states (mostly red) demonstrate how profoundly the nation's Second Amendment debate is wrapped up with its culture wars. Consider how Americans on opposite sides of the liberal-conservative divide are viewing the gun-rights debates underway in at least nine state legislatures. According to Eastern elites, lawmakers are doing the unthinkable: They're debating whether to eliminate so-called "gun-free zones" on public college and university campuses; such zones...