Legislature to vote on guns on campus

A bill that would allow concealed weapons to be carried on Montana university campuses is going through the motions in the Montana State Legislature.

Wednesday, a second reading of the bill passed, 25-24, and the third reading by the Montana Senate will be scheduled soon. If senators pass it, the bill will be sent to the Montana House. If the House approves it, the legislation will go to Gov. Steve Bullock.

Montana would not be alone in allowing guns on its campuses: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin allow concealed weapons to be carried on postsecondary public campuses.

At Montana State University-Northern, a no-gun policy is employed. Interim Chancellor Greg Kegel said that it has been this way for as long as 40 years ago when he was a student..

At that time, there was an area where students checked their sporting weapons, but they were not allowed in dormitories.

“It’s never been an issue,” Kegel said. “I’ve never had an issue with the current setup.”

Kegel said that because the university attracts rural people who are more likely to be interested in hunting and sportsmanship, there is the possibility of sporting firearms being brought on campuses, but allowing concealed weapons in the dormitories opens up the door to pistols and assault weapons.

“It opens up a door to things we’d hate to deal with,” he said. “(The policy) we have has worked well for us.”

He added that he has never heard of anyone having an issue with the no-gun policy at  Northern.

The bill states that people’s constitutional right to bear arms is being infringed upon, and the regulation being that they cannot bear arms in a government institution like a university is more of a violation.

“The legislature finds that any significant prohibition on the possession of firearms at or on the various 26 campuses of the Montana university system calls into question the rights that the people have reserved to protect themselves from government interference … ,” the bill reads.

Kegel said whether or not this is a violation of students’ constitutional rights is a tough question to answer but he knows where he stands.

“There’s certain places where there just needs to be some exceptions,” he said, adding that places with young people, like campuses, should be one of those exceptions. “I vote to not have those guns on campus.”

If the bill passes through the senate and, later, the House, it seems unlikely it will be signed into law, as Bullock vetoed a similar bill in 2013.