CAMPUS: No place for guns

Idaho Senate Bill 1254, commonly known as the “Guns on Campus” bill, purports to provide for the safety of students, faculty and staff of state colleges and universities by allowing certain individuals to carry firearms on campus. One would reasonably assume, therefore, that this law is being proposed to address serious safety issues on our college campuses. Let us examine the facts.

There have been some truly horrific incidents perpetrated on U.S. college campuses in recent years, leading some to conclude that college violence is on the rise. However, as pointed out by Robert Birnbaum in a recent study, this is simply not true.

The violent crime rate on college campuses has dropped significantly over the past 14 years and is currently about one-tenth of that observed in the general population. Significantly, the rate of murders and manslaughter on college campuses is 40 times less than that observed in the general population. In short, the data make it abundantly clear that American college campuses are very safe places, they are getting safer, and, as University of Idaho Interim President Don Burnett recently pointed out, Idaho’s post-secondary campuses are generally even safer than campuses elsewhere.

This is not a matter of Second Amendment rights — the United States Supreme Court has ruled that the right to bear arms is appropriately regulated in places of special sensitivity. Rather, this is a matter of public policy and based upon the best evidence available, the Idaho State Board of Education, all the presidents of our public institutions of higher education, and law enforcement professionals across the state agree that S1254 would be a bad law. Idaho citizens should seriously question if it will make our safe campuses any safer.

J. ANTHONY FERNANDEZ

President

Lewis-Clark State College