While campus was empty and docile during spring break, the Louisiana Senate was in session and furthered a bill that could allow guns at the University.
The bill, SB 303, makes regulation and prohibition of firearms in Louisiana more difficult in an effort to protect the Second Amendment. It was first approved by a Senate judiciary committee April 3, and after debate on the Senate floor, the bill passed with an overwhelming 31-6 vote on April 9.
Gov. Bobby Jindal said he supported the bill at a National Rifle Association meeting on April 13, according to The Associated Press. The NRA is also an outspoken advocate of the bill.
Though opposition in the Senate has been thin, the bill raised concern among Louisiana officials, including those close to the University.
The Board of Regents testified to the Senate judiciary committee expressing its concern for college campuses.
Chancellor Michael Martin has expressed similar sentiments.
“We should all be seriously concerned about the prospect of having guns on campus, in classrooms, in Tiger Stadium or the Lab School,” Martin said.
Student Government President Cody Wells has expressed his support for guns on campus but not in classrooms. He could not be reached for comment on the bill as of press time.
Students had mixed reactions to the bill and the possibility of guns at the University.
“We definitely shouldn’t have guns on campus,” said Craig May, political science senior.
May said guns on campus could potentially make the University less safe because unstable people could carry guns. He said he could imagine a stressed out student during finals week having a breakdown and possibly opening fire.
“It could allow crazy people to carry guns,” said Ashley Heard, criminology senior. “People would have free range on campus.”
But English junior Peyton Adkins said he thinks the potential law would not change anything because the requirement of a permit to carry a weapon makes him feel more secure in who is carrying guns on campus.
Philosophy junior Joseph Antoon agreed, saying a trained soldier with a gun in class would make him feel safer, but he said he also sees the dangers in allowing guns on campus.
“I worry about accidental discharges or an accident where someone could get shot,” Antoon said.
The age of college students and the environment of a university campus has a greater possibility of the guns on campus being dangerous, said Amanda Marionneaux, English senior.
“I’m very understanding of guns, but having no guns takes away the ‘maybes,'” Marionneaux said.
The bill, authored by Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia, will soon be debated in the House, and the fate of the bill will fall into the hands of Louisiana voters if it passes the Legislature.
 
 
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Contact Brian Sibille at [email protected]