The Bozeman Daily Chronicle argued against giving university students with concealed carry permit the right to carry firearms on campus in an editorial last week stating that the campus should remain, for the most part, a gun free zone.
The reason, according to the newspaper that shares a community with the principal campus of Montana State University, is that students are under too much “stress” and have too many hormones “coursing through their veins” in order to handle the responsibility of concealed carry.
“To grasp just how bad an idea this is, one need only consider the average age of college students, the stresses they are enduring and the level of hormones coursing through their veins at this time in their lives along with their propensity to experiment with drugs and overindulge in alcohol,” states the October 9 editorial.
“Throw some guns into the middle of all that and imagine what could happen,” the editorial continues.
The newspaper was responding to growing calls nationwide by student groups and 2nd Amendment advocates to allow students who obtain concealed carry permits to carry on campus in the wake of recent shootings on or near several college campuses. Proponents point out that most of these shootings occur in “gun-free zones.”
While the Chronicle correctly cites Montana law concerning the obtaining of concealed carry permits, it still plays up the liberal narrative that allowing concealed carry on campus will allow anyone and everyone to bring their gun to campus. The newspaper also ignores the fact that public universities in Montana have no enforcement mechanism for their gun policies other than signs.
According to state law, a person must be a Montana resident for 6 months, be 18 years of age with no felony record, pay $50, submit to an NICS background check, and offer proof that they have taken some of form of firearm safety course. While no system is foolproof, these rules would seem to help ensure that mainly knowledgeable and safety conscious students or faculty would be allowed to carry firearms.
The editorial also does not address touch on the fact that a majority of students at the state’s public universities and colleges live off-campus. If the Chronicle’s concerns about drug experimentation and overindulgence in alcohol are valid, much of that activity is already occurring outside the reach of the universities’ gun free zones.
It should also be noted that most students — including all of those who could acquire a concealed carry permit — are old enough to vote and serve in the military.
A bill — SB 143 — narrowly missed passing the Montana state legislature during its session earlier this year that would have prohibited prevents the state board of regents from “infringing” on adult students’ 2nd Amendment rights. SB 143 was a broader bill than most proposals and would have allowed the same rules that applied to possessing firearms off campus to apply to possessing firearms on campus.
The only current exceptions for students to “gun-free zone” on public college campuses in Montana is the allowance of students who live in on-campus residence halls to have long guns (such as rifles and shotguns) kept stored and locked by residence hall staff. Students in university managed family housing units may also keep long guns in their residence.
The University of Montana’s Policies and Procedures for Firearms on Campus
University Weapons Policy-Montana State University
Authored by Ron Catlett.
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