Concealed carry gains momentum

From the VanCougar on April 9 of Washington State University:

In the wake of a rash of school violence occurring around the country, supporters of a student’s right to carry a concealed weapon have set their sights on college campuses everywhere, including WSUV.

Fliers have circulated on bulletin boards around campus in recent weeks, urging students to find out “the truth about concealed carry and why we should allow it on campus.”

The notices are linked to the website of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, an organization describing itself as a collective of “college students, college faculty members, parents of college students, and concerned citizens...who support the right of concealed handgun license holders to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.”

The movement is attracting attention. A ban on firearms being carried onto campus was struck down by the Utah State Supreme Court in 2006, the only state that specifically requires schools to allow licensed students to legally carry a concealed weapon onto university premises. Only two other campuses, Colorado State University and Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia, allow students to carry concealed weapons to class. At least 12 other states are considering similar legislation.

Kristin Guttormsen, campus leader for the movement at WSUV and regional director for the western United States, says his involvement in the organization came in the wake of the Virgina Tech massacre.

The April 16, 2007, school shooting orchestrated by 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho took the lives of 27 students and 5 faculty members, as well as wounding 17 others. What is now the single deadliest school shooting incident in United States history touched off a firestorm of debate amongst both advocates pushing for tougher gun control laws and organizations seeking to relax gun laws on university campuses.

“It was actually my 35th birthday,” recalled Guttormsen. “No cake or parties. I sat watching that, going across the screen. It got me really upset. I couldn’t focus after that, and I started looking for options.”

Guttormsen said he scoped the group out for a period of time, ensuring that the group was not a “knee-jerk” reaction or a partisan coalition. During his membership, Guttormsen has been interviewed by national newspapers and given testimony before the Washington State Senate Committee. Guttormsen recently turned his focus from strictly regional efforts to a concentration on his own WSUV campus.

Despite having only 20 minor crimes reported on campus in 2007, Guttormsen says that a false sense of security on a sleepy WSUV campus may be a disservice to the students and faculty.

“That’s exactly what they said at Virginia Tech...It doesn’t just happen in downtown New York City. It very seldom happens in larger areas. It happens in suburbia.”

Clay Mosher, a professor of sociology at WSUV who has studied violent crime, says the idea of allowing students to carry concealed weapons on campus is a “terrible” idea. Mosher also disputes the belief that armed students would save lives in event of an attack, stating that student intervention could possible take the lives of others caught in the crossfire.

“It is important to keep in mind that police and members of the military are subject to a considerable amount of training, both with respect to the proper use of weapons and in terms of their ability to distinguish targets,” said Mosher. “Even with all of that, they still make mistakes. Putting guns in the hands of people with far less training simply makes no sense.”

Professor Mosher also said the allowance of concealed weapons would “change the ‘climate’ on campus.”
He asks, “How would students and faculty feel in classroom settings, knowing that some students had concealed weapons?”

Guttormsen disagreed with the assertion that concealed carry would create fear in the classroom, and maintained that the average student has already come to terms with the idea.

“People spend their entire lives with people who are carrying concealed weapons every day. They just don’t think about it. There’s a big difference between feeling safe ... and things actually being that way.”

Guttormsen stated that it is legally acceptable to carry a concealed weapon in many public places, including movie theaters and supermarkets. A statistical percentage of the people in those places, he said, are carrying concealed weapons with no one the wiser. A gun-free zone such as a university campus leaves students and faculty defenseless.

“You can’t exceed the speed limit. People exceed the speed limit and get tickets. You can’t smoke pot. People do,” said Guttormsen. “Laws are only going to stop people who are going to follow the laws to begin with.”

Lieutenant Dave Stephenson, Director of Public Safety at WSUV and senior campus security officer, agreed with Mosher’s assessment of an average student’s ability in a crisis situation.

“Students at universities are statistically younger and have greater incidences of displaying poor judgment, [such as] fights, intoxication, and other behavioral choices,” said Stephenson. “Adding firearms to that mix would, in my opinion, create more accidental injury, greater levels of injury from spontaneous violence, and fear than would be helped in a crisis situation.”

Guttormsen disputed the idea that students taking it upon themselves to defend a classroom would make things worse, saying that simple logistics are not on the undefended student’s side.

“School shootings last nine to thirty minutes, because they are generally unopposed and there are so few responders,” said Guttormsen. “[Campuses] are such a large area to cover with only one or two officers.”

Guttormsen also said that costs involved in staffing a security team to cover all areas of a school would be prohibitive. Even with increased staffing, said Guttormsen, many lives are lost in the seconds it takes for closest security officers to respond.

Students, counters Officer Stephenson, should not fear for their safety while attending WSUV.

“The safety and the constitutional and civil rights of campus stakeholders will remain a priority of the WSU Vancouver Police Department,” said Stephenson. “WSU Vancouver continually increases planning, policy, and mechanical barrier management to address emergencies of all kinds that may impact [the campus.]”

Recent additions to campus safety include interior locks to classroom doors, modifications to the public address system on campus, and the implementation of an emergency mass-notification system.

Stephenson explained that all WSUV police officers are trained to respond to many different emergencies, including a shooting scenario. Plans and policies are established and designed to work in tangent with the Washington Sate Patrol, Clark County Sheriff’s Department, and Vancouver Police in the event of a significant emergency.

The concealed carry debate appears to be heating up. An “empty holster” protest is scheduled April 21-25 on campuses nationwide. The image of an empty holster, said Guttormsen, is representative of the group’s message: An undefended campus is an unsafe one. A WSUV campus debate on the topic of concealed carry to be held during the protest week is also in the works.

Guttormsen is also researching the possibility of establishing a RSO designed to spread the organization’s message to interested individuals.

Regardless of differences in opinion on gun rights, Stephenson says he has no problems with the group operating on campus.

“[SCCC] has sponsored demonstrations on other campuses over the past year and has been respectful of campus regulations,” said Stephenson. “They have worked hard to exercise their rights within established policies.”

To register for the mass notification system and be contacted in event of an emergency, visit MyWSU for more information.

For more information regarding Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, visit http://www.concealedcampus.org.

For more information regarding SCCC’s activities at WSUV, contact campus leader Kristin Guttormsen via e-mail: kristin.guttormsen@concealedcampus.org