Citing concerns about safety and suicide, a majority of people who spoke at a Thursday hearing on guns at the University of Wyoming said they did not support allowing weapons on campus. But others advocated for easing restrictions at Wyoming’s lone four-year public university, contending an armed public would better protect against mass shootings or other events.
At issue is the current UW policy that doesn’t allow anyone but law enforcement and those with explicit permissions to have “dangerous weapons” in UW facilities.
The policy review comes after Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed legislation in March that would have eliminated most gun-free zones in the state, but called on institutions like school districts, community colleges and UW “to take up these difficult conversations again and establish policies that allow for the safe carry of concealed weapons within their facilities.”
Surveys and public comments
UW solicited public feedback last month on various ways to change its weapons policy in an online survey that attracted more than 3,000 responses, according to President Ed Seidel’s state of the university address.
Those responses — which were provided to university trustees in Thursday’s meeting materials — showed that 64.4% of respondents wanted the university’s no-guns policy to remain the same. That included 87.5% of those who self-identified as faculty, 55.3% of students and 50% of state residents.
The meeting materials also listed comments garnered from the survey, ranging from staunch support for allowing students to defend themselves via firearms to those expressing horror at the prospect of students having or being around more weapons.
Those sentiments were echoed by many of those who spoke Thursday, including students, teachers, alumni, community members and military veterans.
One commonly cited was a concern that an increase of guns on campus could lead to higher numbers of suicides.
“My freshman year, I had a good friend kill themself in the dorm,” said UW elementary education major Liz Pierson. “While this wasn’t with a gun, it shows that suicides in the dorm do happen.”
She noted Wyoming’s high suicide rates and how guns are a far more lethal method of suicide. She also referenced a survey in which researchers concluded that campuses allowing concealed carry had far higher likelihoods of firearm-involved suicides.
This concern was reiterated by Sara Bursac, a Laramie resident, social worker, mental health counselor and mother.
Others used their three minutes of allowed public testimony to advocate for concealed carry as a way to protect the campus community from mass shootings and other threats. That included UW students and veterans Brandon Calloway and Kurtis Silvernale.
“During my military career, I learned the critical importance of preparedness and how to respond effectively to unpredictable threats,” Calloway, a law student, said. “I’m here today to advocate for revising [UW’s weapons policy] to allow unlimited, permitless concealed carry on campus, because this is not just about rights, it’s about safety and survival.”
“This is not just about rights, it’s about safety and survival.”
UW student and veteran Brandon Calloway
“Our campus is broad and our buildings are large,” Silvernale added. “Therefore, police [who] respond … are going to be restricted in their ability to intervene and mitigate any type of harm to student bodies.”
A graduate student in the mental health counseling program also spoke in favor of allowing guns on campus, though believed there should be guardrails.
“I am in support of concealed carry on campus, with specific requirements being met,” Noah Raish said. “I would want those who are responsible and who do respect the law, who are trained to carry and to be citizens who are willing to stand up for those who are innocent and cannot defend themselves.”
A UW professor and some older students noted that they still preferred keeping UW’s policies the way they are.
Molly McCully Brown, a faculty member who spoke not as a professor but as a community member and teacher, said she tells her students that if a shooting happens, she wants them to run and not worry about her.
“I’m acutely aware of the ways my disability would make it harder for me to help protect them and might even put them at increased risk,” said Brown, who uses a wheelchair.
Still, she said, it’s important to keep firearms away from a learning environment that frequently challenges students’ perspectives and can cause discomfort — something she’d find harder to do knowing students may be armed.
Others argued concealed carry might actually hinder an effective law enforcement response to a mass shooting at UW. Allowing concealed carry on campus is “going to infringe [on] the efficient operation of official responders with confusion and indecision,” said Vietnam war veteran and graduate student Michael Besinger.
“It will chill discourse for faculty and students,” he added. “And third, it will potentially reduce the tendency of people to come to the University of Wyoming.”
Guy Robertson, a student who used a cane to walk to the front of the room, said he’s a gun owner, but doesn’t like to walk around with a gun.
“I’m concerned that two knuckleheads will get into an argument, pull out their guns, go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, shoot the other person and other people who are innocent,” he said. “I don’t like guns on campus.”
Steve Dillon directs the UW School of Culture, Gender, and Social Justice, but said he spoke Thursday as a citizen and teacher.
He said that when he first moved to Laramie he encountered men in orange hats with guns at a trailhead. They’d asked him what he was doing, and he told them he’d just moved there and wanted to go for a hike.
“They raised their guns, pointing them at my chest and said, ‘You just moved here? Go the F back where you came from,’” Dillon said.
“I am prepared to die while teaching to save just one student’s life. What will you do?”
Steve Dillon
Wyoming is the only place Dillon has had a gun pointed at him, he said, not any big city. He added that he’s experienced five bomb threats and two attempted shootings.
“I am prepared to die while teaching to save just one student’s life,” he said to the trustees. “What will you do?”
Laramie City Council candidate and UW Art Museum faculty member William Bowling spoke as a resident and also felt, as a gun-owner, that firearms should be kept off campus.
“I believe the following to be true: Firearm access is not under threat in the state of Wyoming and guns do not belong in educational settings,” he said.
Other students cited their own beliefs that guns shouldn’t be on campus and that some students may leave if firearms are allowed. UW’s enrollment has declined for six years, according to data presented at the state of the university address.
Some other students who wanted to speak either had to leave or couldn’t attend due to class schedules, according to those who were in the room.
Law and the future
UW Law Professor George Mocsary was also invited to speak to the board about guns on campus.
Mocsary presented a raft of materials and research mainly focusing on other colleges that have allowed some level of firearm carry. He cited instances in which individuals who conceal carry have been able to stop active assailants.
Mocsary also noted that while police may come into a situation unsure of who the “bad guy” may be, people in the room would and could more readily stop them.
Mocsary’s research and data “suggest that victim firearms use against an active assailant is likely to be effective and safe,” he said.
Some limits Mocsary suggested included requiring holsters for weapons, noting how some accidents involved unholstered weapons. He also noted the types of training available for active assailant situations.
The full testimony from Thursday’s hearing can be found here.
The UW Board of Trustees will likely take action on the issue of firearms on campus during its next meeting on Oct. 16, according to Chairman Kermit Brown.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
The post As University of Wyoming mulls guns on campus, community debates safety, suicide prevention appeared first on WyoFile .