Braving the cold Idaho winter, student Phillip Sturholm attempts to get signatures for his petition that aims to get tasers unbanned from the University of Idaho campus.
Since 2015, tasers have been banned at UI, but students with Young Americans for Liberty say removing the rule would improve campus safety as well as protect students’ Second Amendment rights.
While Sturholm is a senior studying public relations at UI, he is also the state chair of Young Americans for Liberty, a libertarian-aligned advocacy organization that promotes grassroots political action and confrontational politics. He says students should have the option to carry tasers for self-defense.
“We simply want people to have something to stand up and defend themselves with,” Sturholm said.
According to a Moscow Police Department report from 2023, there were 1,169 UI-related calls in 2023, or an average of 3.2 per day. This number is closer to 4.5 per day when factoring out breaks and other lower activity times.
While not all calls are in response to potentially violent situations, Sturholm believes lifting the ban on tasers would make campus a safer place to be. He explains that the possibly of a student having a taser on their person discourages attacks even if it is not there.
“I think that when students engage in that, I think it’s great,” said Bruce Lovell, director of physical security at UI. “So, if they want change and they go about it appropriately, I think it’s a really good mechanism.”
Sturholm said that while this will improve safety on campus, it is mainly a battle to protect constitutional rights.
“For me, it’s an entire Second Amendment battle,” Sturholm said “It’s the principle of the matter, and the fact that students who either cannot obtain the license or do not want to use something lethal for self-defense should have every single right for their own autonomy and personal protection.”
Kira Weiler, a resident assistant who works in Theophilus Tower, has concerns about them being allowed. Weiler shares that as an RA, there is always a fear of student retaliation towards her. With tasers banned, this is one less worry on her mind.
“This rule does not impact me as this campus feels very safe, so I don’t feel the need to protect myself,” Weiler said.
Sturholm is aware of the concerns of people who think it is dangerous to allow weapons on campus, even if it is nonlethal. But he argues against this point.
“If you tase somebody with it and they’re not assaulting you, that is assault on yourself, that is not only still against the rules, still punishable, still even illegal, by law, but also, it’s equally as enforceable as the current ban,” Sturholm said.
Since the petition started began at the beginning of the fall 2025 semester, Sturholm said that he and the other members of Young Americans for Liberty have been able to collect 923 signatures from students and staff on campus.
“I am three days of tabling worth away from getting our goal,” Sturholm said. “But we’re going to try to make it up in force and have as many people who signed and who are willing to come with us, just to be a crowd, to be a show, to be an image.”
On March 19 at 1 p.m., Young Americans for Liberty will present their petition to Dean of Students Blaine Eckles.
Reagan Jones can be reached at [email protected].
Marie
Is Sturholm a student at UI? That is unclear through this.