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Campus Carry bill passes W.Va. Senate, heads to House

EXERCISING RIGHTS — Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump said Senate Bill 10 would allow college students to exercise their constitutional rights to keep and bear arms. -- Photo Courtesy/WV Legislative Photography

CHARLESTON — A bill opposed by several universities in West Virginia to allow students and visitors to carry concealed weapons on campus by permit only passed the state Senate Tuesday.

Senate Bill 10, the Campus Self-Defense Act, passed 29-4 and now heads to the House of Delegates for review. All three Democratic senators voted against the bill along with Senate Health Committee Chairman Mike Maroney, R-Marshall.

SB 10 would lift prohibitions on public colleges and university students and visitors from carrying a concealed weapon on campus as long as they have a current and valid concealed carry permit beginning July 1, 2024.

“We’re talking here about state institutions. The state institutions represent the government of West Virginia, which is limited in what it can do because of a right the Constitution affords to the citizens of this state,” said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan. “We tried very hard to accommodate this and do it in a common-sense way that preserves and gives life to the citizens of the state, even those who are just college kids, a Constitutional right they have to have a weapon for the defense of themselves.”

The bill includes numerous exceptions, including prohibiting concealed carry at organized events at stadiums and arenas with more than 1,000 spectators, daycare facilities on campus, areas used by law enforcement, facilities with armed personnel and metal detectors, at formal disciplinary and grievance hearings, sole occupancy offices, at primary or secondary school-sponsored events on a college campus, at private functions, laboratories, and areas where patient care or mental health services are being provided.

The bill also prohibits concealed carry at on-campus residence halls except for common areas, such as lounges, dining areas, and study halls. Colleges and universities must provide secure storage for weapons at residence halls and can charge fees for storage.

The bill also allows colleges and universities to take disciplinary action against students who violate the state’s concealed carry laws and provisions of the bill. It also protects colleges and universities from liability.

SB 10 is opposed by both West Virginia University President E. Gordon Gee and Marshall University President Brad Smith, who co-wrote a letter to lawmakers last week. In a statement released after Tuesday’s vote, WVU said it still remained opposed, but appreciated the exceptions in the bill.

“While we do not support campus carry, we do appreciate the Senate retaining best practices and safeguards from other states in this bill,” according to the statement. “We hope the House of Delegates will keep these provisions intact as it considers the legislation. The provisions are critical to our university communities.”

According to the Associated Press, the presidents of West Virginia State University, Concord University, and Shepherd University also co-wrote letters of their own opposing the bill.

“The higher education leaders said they ‘strongly support the second amendment and the right for law-abiding citizens to own firearms, but have serious reservations about the significant public safety challenges and financial burdens’ the bill would impose,” wrote AP reporter Leah Willingham.

Complaints stem around the potential costs to state colleges and universities associated with implementing the law. A fiscal note for a similar bill in 2019 estimated the cost to colleges and universities to be approximately $11 million. The costs would come from hiring additional campus police officers, metal detectors and wands, and providing the storage lockers.

The presidents also raised concerns about increases in mental health issues and suicides on campus and whether allowing students to have concealed weapons would provide more opportunities for students to either attempt suicide or possibly engage in mass shootings.

“I’m really, really concerned about what kind of image we portray to people who want to send kids to in-state institutions,” said Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, speaking against the bill. “I just think that the atmosphere on college campuses where kids are partying and learning and growing up, things happen. They just do. I dread the thought that handguns will be so easily accessible by those when bad things start happening on campus.”

According to the advocacy group Students for Concealed Carry, 11 states allow for some form of campus concealed carry as of 2020, while 16 states prohibit concealed carry on campus. Another 23 states allow colleges and universities to make their own rules regarding concealed carry. The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action urged supporters to contact their lawmakers to pass the bill.

“Current state law does not prohibit carrying of a defensive firearm on campus, but institution policy may lead to expulsion or termination of employment,” according to a post by the NRA-ILA last week. “Adults who are officially licensed to carry a firearm for self-defense should not be prevented from doing so just because they seek higher education.”

According to a policy paper by Everytown for Gun Safety, a project of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, there is scant evidence that gun crime or mass shootings have been deterred in states that allow Campus Carry, while instances of one-on-one gun crime and suicides have increased.

“In the small number of states that have forced guns onto college campuses, there is no evidence that it has helped prevent mass shootings,” according to their 2021 policy paper. “Nor is there any reason to expect this policy to stop in-progress shootings: Under extreme duress, an armed college student or university professor cannot be expected to transform into a specially trained tactical police officer.”

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