The Republican-sponsored bill comes less than two weeks after a gunman killed nine people at a community college in Oregon. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, circulated it for co-sponsors Monday afternoon. However, Kremer said it’s not a direct response to the incident.
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The UW-Madison Police Department urged lawmakers not to consider changing current law. “I don’t think we should be treating our college students as lesser citizens – not allowing them to carry like the rest of the law-abiding public”. According to 2014 Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) numbers, you are less likely to become a victim of a violent crime at UW-Madison – which now does not allow concealed weapons in buildings – than you are in the state of Wisconsin as a whole.
Democrats did not immediately return requests for comment on the proposed bill.
The legislator said he expects the bill will draw heat from gun-control advocates, and he got it soon after the bill’s public unveiling. She also says it’s not wise to allow guns where alcohol usage is common among college students. “I certainly worry about that”, he said. “The training required to obtain a concealed carry permit is minimal”.
University of Wisconsin chancellors and Ray Cross, president of the entire system, issued a joint statement in opposition to the bill.
Lovicott says the campus would not be safer if firearms were allowed in the buildings. It’s a liberal anti-gun myth not supported by any research.
Kremer said the exemption allows schools to prevent campus carry by making the practice too burdensome.
National Review examined the debate over concealed carry in 2012 and reviewed Colorado’s law creating gun-free zones in its government buildings. It simply removes a few of the places where guns can be banned. “In states that allow concealed carry, these mass shooting tragedies have still occurred”.
“These kids are all soft targets”, he said.
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Ultimately, he said, students deserve the right to defend themselves.
