Guns Likely Headed to Texas Universities

Students may be able to carry concealed handguns on college campuses throughout Texas quite soon. The Texas legislature has approved a bill allowing the practice and Governor Greg Abbott is expected to sign it into law. If signed, the law will come into effect in August 2016 at Texas universities and August 2017 at community colleges.

Shawn Morrow, professor of criminal justice at ASU, has spoken to his students on the topic of concealed carry on campuses numerous times throughout the semester. He said that an overwhelming majority of students are looking forward to the law coming into effect. He does worry what those from outside of Texas will think on the issue, however. He even suggested that it would be possible for Texas schools to lose enrollment from emigrating students who are skeptical about guns in the classroom.

“We’re going to have to educate both sides," Morrow said. “We’re going to have to educate everyone, actually, if you really think about it. And I know we’re going to have to educate those who carry and I know we’re going to have to educate those who come to our schools.”

This bill will allow for private universities to not be subject to the regulations and for public universities to have the option to create gun-free zones on their campuses, however public universities may not declare the entire campus gun free. Executive Dean of Howard College in San Angelo, Jamie Rainey stressed that students, faculty and staff will have a say in how the regulations will be implemented on the campus.

“Now what I will say is really good in this regard it will allow the CEO of each community college to consult with our students, our faculty and our staff to create some reasonable rules and regulations regarding carrying the concealed handguns in our college campuses,” Rainey said. “That, of course, will be a process. Our largest number of students on site will be [in the] fall, so we anticipate having a student forum in the fall and spring as we always do and get feedback from our students.”

Open Carry Texas is an active voice of gun activists throughout the state. The president of the organization, CJ Grisham, said that the group has raised awareness by openly carrying their rifles throughout the state and have been “instrumental” in raising support that would legalize the open carry of handguns in Texas.

“Campus carry is going to affect safety by protecting the students that choose to carry,” Grisham said. “As you know, all of these campus shootings that have happened have happened without students having the ability to defend themselves. So the way this is going to make campuses safer is by allow[ing] licensed, background-checked, and trained individuals who are at least 21 years old to carry a firearm in self-defense.”

David Currie, county chair of Democratic Party, owns about 25 guns. He was more skeptical of concealed carry on college campuses.

“I think letting students carry guns on campus is probably one of the two or three most asinine ideas I have ever heard of in my life,” Currie said. “It’s a college campus. I know you have to be 21, but what are you doing carrying a gun into a classroom? It’s an educational facility. Kids get in arguments.”

Currie, an owner of Cornerstone Builders, does not oppose regulations in his business. He even claims to have appealed to the county to have homes outside San Angelo inspected and held to the same standards as homes in the city. He made the point that guns should be regulated under the same principles.

“You can’t drive down the road at 100 miles an hour,” Currie said. “There’s reasons for that. You have stop signs, you have all kinds of things that get you where you’re going safely. I think the same types of principles apply to gun ownership. Reasonable restrictions on who can own a gun, what kinds of gun I can own, etc. is just good for democracy, good for America as a whole and good for gun owners.”

Rainey claimed that it’s “human nature” for people to argue for and against this bill. She said that the conflict within the population of Howard college would not be much different than the population of the politicians that debated the bill within the Texas government. Rainey herself, however, was optimistic about the bill because of the age restriction and because of the process that those with a CHL go through.

“You may be going to church with someone that has [a concealed handgun] or you may be at the grocery store with someone that has one,” Rainey said. “You don’t know that. I think our safety here would be just as strong as safety anyplace else when this is fully implemented.”

Morrow has a background as a firefighter and in law enforcement, as well as teaching government and criminal justice. He’s currently finishing a Ph. D. on Public Administration of Policy, Law, Mediation, Terrorism, and Peace. Morrow does, in fact, have a concealed handgun license (CHL) and expressed discomfort with the current law of allowing concealed handguns on campus but not in the classroom.

“We worried about that for the last couple of years because people break in the cars,” Morrow said. “I’m responsible for that weapon, for whatever that weapon does. If it hurts someone else, that’s my fault because I left that weapon in the car. So I’d rather have it on my person than leave it in the car.

Currie said that when a campus shooting occurs, it is the campus police’s responsibility to take care of it, not the students.

“There’s a guy with a gun, you’re going to have the police coming,” Currie said. “How can the police tell who the good guy is and who the bad guy is? It’s very confusing to police to come into a situation to where both sides have guns and they can’t tell who’s criminal and who’s a law-abiding citizen trying to protect.”

High school students often participate in dual credit classes on Howard College campus. Furthermore, the Big Spring campus has a childcare center in the fall. Rainey said that both of these groups need to be considered where guns are concerned.

“One of the things that the bill does not allow is for the college to say ‘we’re going to generally prohibit all [handguns] from every place,’” Rainey said. “We can’t do that, but we can establish rules.”

Currie said that concealed carry on university campuses will impact the educational system’s ability to teach students.

“Most domestic killings are somebody losing their temper," Currie said. “What if the professor is trying to provoke a really thought-provoking argumentative discussion on some particular topic. Are they going to be able to discuss it when the guy you’re arguing with has a .38 automatic on his hip? It’s just dumb. It’s just crazy.”

Morrow said that he’s never had a student get violent with him in all of his years of teaching. He was worried about the way one student acted in the class, but Morrow solved the problem when he spoke to the student in private.

“To me, if someone wants to hurt somebody, if they’re that mad, they’re going to do it legally or illegally,” Morrow said. “If they’re that upset, no law’s going to stop them from doing what they want to do. They could take anything, you know, a pen or pencil. I’m not worried about it, because I think having it legal to carry is not going to stop somebody who has those mental issues where they go off.”

Currie expressed discomfort with the idea of going to places like the supermarket with his 5-year-old granddaughter when the people there could potentially be carrying weapons. He said that in the 21^st century, “we don’t need people carrying guns around anywhere out in public.”

“How often does a campus shooting happen?” Currie said. “There’s a one in a billion chance that somebody in a university would have a gun and you could shoot before he killed 21 people. We would just be safer to have proper legal gun ownership for hunters and sportsmen who use those guns in a responsible manner.”

Rainey was thankful for the opportunity the government gave community colleges to consider their options.

“The previsions for community colleges state that this [law] doesn’t take effect until August 1, 2017,” Rainey said. “Which is really good for us and will allow us to get summer, fall and spring students’ feedback. I’m really glad that they gave us so much time so that we could do that.”

Grisham encouraged anyone who is well trained in firearms and the fundamentals of state regulations to carry a firearm everywhere they go “because it’s better to have a gun and never have to use it than to need a gun and not have it on you.”

“Anytime Texans gain a right to keep and bear arms in any situation is always a victory,” Grisham said. “It’s not the victory we would’ve wanted because it still requires Texans to pay a second amendment tax and get permission from the state before they can lawfully defend themselves. But it is a victory. It’s a small victory, but it’s a victory.”

In Currie’s opinion, America was founded on reasonable compromise and one of Americans’ greatest rights is the right to bear arms.

“We just ought to apply common sense to guns in this country, Currie said. “We have a tremendous amount of gun deaths in this country compared to most of the civilized world. I’m not saying we have to restrict them like they do in Japan or Canada or England or something. We certainly can be more reasonable with who owns them and what they can do.”

Currie said that he has strong feelings and opinions about the way the country deals with guns and that there would be both democrats and republicans who agree or disagree with him.

“I think when it comes to gun ownership, there are reasonable things that those of us who own guns, love guns, and use guns should be willing to do in order to enjoy that privilege. And I don’t think when we try to regulate it in such a way that keep guns out of the hands of criminals, I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I don’t think that’s an infringement on my rights.”

Morrow stated that concealed carry courses are supposed to prevent irresponsibility of those with a CHL. Morrow revealed that a few students he discussed the issue with were worried about potential immaturity of students with a weapon on campus; furthermore, he said that a couple of colleagues in the political science department were “hypothetically worried.” Morrow did, however, stress the importance of education for both supporters and naysayers of concealed carry on campuses.

“Most of the time when people dislike something it is because they don’t know everything about what the story or case or issue is,” Morrow said. “There’s missing facts there. They jump to conclusions. We need to educate. That’s the missing key.”