While students across the nation are trying to get back into the college routine, students at Texas universities are adjusting to concealed firearm carry on campus. On Aug. 1, Texas put SB 11 into effect, allowing those with concealed carry permits to bring their guns on college campuses.
The bill was first read in Texas’ Senate on Jan. 28, 2015, and was referred to the Committee on State Affairs. After going through multiple committees, it took six months for the bill to reach Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk. He signed it on June 13, 2015.
Students at The University of Texas at Austin launched a controversial protest that quickly caught national media attention. UT students started walking around campus carrying dildos to go along with the slogan, “Cocks Not Glocks.” According to the obscence device law in Texas, it is illegal to carry a dildo in public.
LSU students shared the UT students’ concerns regarding the new law. Biology junior Ashley Thomas said if she were a student in Texas, she wouldn’t feel at ease.
“I don’t feel comfortable knowing that people are allowed to have guns that I can’t see,” she said.
Texas is now one of eight states that allow concealed carry on college campuses, according to NBC Nightly News. Meanwhile, Louisiana is one of 18 states that outright bans guns on campuses.
Not all students are against the idea. Philosophy and religious studies sophomore Logan Futrell said he thinks the law could aid in stopping a potential active shooter situation.
“If an active shooter or certain situation was to occur, there’d be a quicker response time,” Futrell said.
While the law allows individuals to carry concealed firearms on campus, there are some restrictions. Texas universities are able to identify “sensitive areas” and buildings that will not allow concealed carry.
Petroleum engineer senior Joseph Ianham, like many students, had mixed emotions on the law.
“I don’t know, I think it’s not wrong, but at the same time I kind of feel more of afraid in the fact that anyone can bring a gun,” Ianham said.
In October 2015, TIME.com reported there had already been 23 shootings on college campuses that year.
According to everytownresearch.org, between 2013 and 2015, 76 of the 160 school shootings in the United States occurred on college or university campuses.
Despite the continuing debate about gun rights in Louisiana, the University has upheld Policy Statement 96, maintaining campus as a firearm-free zone, and Policy Statement 102, which states the University’s commitment to a violence-free campus and an “atmosphere completely free of threats and assaults.”
In 2013, Arkansas passed a law allowing those with a concealed carry permit to carry their firearms on university and college campuses. However, in the law, there is a prevision allowing colleges and universities to “opt out” annually. For three years in a row, every college and university has opted out, meaning no firearms are allowed on campuses in Arkansas, according to armedcampuses.org.