Anyone not graduating this spring will face a new era at the University of Kansas: one in which guns will be allowed in classrooms.
Starting July 1, 2017, “any individual who is 21 years of age or older and who is not prohibited or disqualified by law and who is lawfully eligible to carry a concealed handgun in Kansas shall not be precluded from doing so on University campuses,” according to KU’s University-wide weapons policy.
This means that any student meeting the above requirements can attend classes, sporting events, and social activities with a loaded firearm in their backpack. They have no obligation to inform others of their weapon.
This is happening at universities and community colleges across the state to comply with the Kansas Legislature’s 2013 decision on the matter. Schools were given an exemption period; this ends on July 1st.
Importantly, this law lacks popular support amongst university personnel. A poll of more than 20,000 Kansas school employees found that 82% of the polled would feel “less safe if students were allowed to carry guns.” An NPR article cites this poll, which also found that, among professors:
“70 percent of respondents said allowing guns on campus would negatively impact their course and how they teach, two-thirds said allowing guns would limit their freedom to teach the material and engage with students in a way that optimizes learning, [and] nearly half said allowing concealed weapons would increase crime on campus.”
Dr. Paul Schumaker, a professor of political theory at KU, has been teaching at a gun-free KU for 45 years. At a KU Campus Carry Discussion Panel held on October 26th, Dr. Schumaker indicated that if this law goes into effect, he is unsure whether he will be returning for his final year of teaching. His reasoning echoes the hesitations expressed in the above poll: he feels that fear of gun-related violence will significantly infringe upon a classroom’s learning environment.
Dr. Schumaker also makes the point that this mandate is being forced upon universities, which should not be lumped into the state of Kansas as a whole. University campuses are not only some of the largest clusters of emotion-driven young adults in the country, but they are also a place where challenging ideas are presented, evaluated and debated. The possibility of a heated discussion turning to a violent altercation is much too high to be ignored.
The lack of popular support does not remain isolated to faculty, however. A November 2015 survey of university students at all Kansas schools procured similar results: 55% wanted to amend the law, keeping guns off campus, while only 31% was in favor of the law. Responses were split on whether the new law would keep them from attending their classes: 42% answered yes and 42% answered no. However, the same survey found that when narrowed to KU, only 20% supported campus carry.
Sophomore Rachel Harvey feels particularly unsafe at the prospect of guns in her classes. Harvey, an elementary education major, does not feel she could get the education she is paying for while also worrying about angering a volatile classmate holding a legal firearm. Without the right to know who in her vicinity is packing heat, she is unsure how, or if, she will continue at the University of Kansas.
The reason behind this new law was clear: it’s in the interest of everybody’s safety, advocates say. A common argument is that “the best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” I respect what these gun advocates are trying to do; both sides of the argument seeks to increase public safety. However, laws that make guns easier to obtain and expand the territory in which they can be carried does not only apply to “good guys.” It applies to bad guys, too, as well as well-intentioned guys who lose their temper during arguments or when they’ve had too much to drink.
Perhaps the most unsettling part of this law is the fact that no training permit is required. Anyone who meets the very short list of qualifications can benefit from this law. Bad guys included.