Less than a week after shooting fatalities occurred on the campuses of South Carolina State University and Purdue University, a bill is being reintroduced to the Idaho State Legislature that would make Idaho the seventh state to allow guns onto college campuses. The bill, proposed to the Senate Affairs Committee Monday in Boise, would permit retired law enforcement officers and adults 21 years of age or older with an Idaho enhanced concealed carry license to possess a firearm on campus.
In 21 states, concealed carry on college campuses is banned. In 23 states, including Idaho, the institutions decide whether or not to allow it.
Allowing such a motion wouldn’t necessarily lead to an increase in campus shootings or violence, however allowing firearms on campus would be an unnecessary and dangerous distraction to the general student body.
Some students have grown up around guns and such a bill would be an afterthought to those who are around them on a daily basis. Yet for many, it’s a foreign concept — and for that matter, a dangerous one.
There appears to be a hint of logic within an otherwise preposterous suggestion. Concealed carry would be banned in “high-capacity facilities.” What exactly is deemed a high-capacity facility has yet to be determined, though entertainment venues such as athletic facilities or concert halls would count under the current proposal.
Those who possess the required license have gone through intensive training and, more than likely, have developed a level of responsibility.
That being said, it only takes a single mistake to spur national news — something the nation has become accustomed to in the wake of last week’s shootings.
It has yet to be determined whether or not the bill would apply to Greek houses, where the combination of “beer culture” and guns could wreak havoc.
“All I see is bullets zinging around. I would certainly hate to get a phone call that there had been a party, and there had been a shooting,” Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow said Monday.
Granted, that’d be the worst-case scenario.
The state must acknowledge that this bill will make a large amount of students uncomfortable, students who shouldn’t have to have concerns over their safety while pursuing an education.
— TL