 "Photo: Graphic by Jenny Muhmel and Amber Swoboda")
USD students and faculty with concealed weapons permits expressed mixed feelings over a proposed bill that would have allowed students to carry firearms on campus.
HB 1261 failed to pass a Senate subcommittee Monday morning by a 7-1 vote, but the bill could be revived through a legislative procedure called a "smoke-out."
USD Junior Sam Clikeman has a concealed weapons permit in Clay County, but said he is split over having guns on campus.
"Frankly, I'm pretty neutral on it, but if I had my choice, I think it would be OK," he said.
Clikeman said he understands why some larger states might need strict gun laws, but feels people in South Dakota and the Midwest are more likely to have experience with guns and how to handle them safely.
Opponents of the bill say that argument doesn't add up.
"During a situation, someone else with a gun beside the suspect wouldn't help the cops, just confuse them," said Sen. Ben Nesselhuf, D-Vermillion, who voted against the bill.
Nesselhuf sees no benefit in restricting the Board of Regents from instituting policy that it sees fit. He noted a substantial amount of pressure from his constituents in Vermillion as a motivating factor in the way he cast his vote.
The proposed bill, which is in response to the Virginia Tech shootings last April, would have allowed those with concealed weapons permits to carry and conceal firearms while on campus.
Six other state legislatures are looking at similar legislation, and Utah already allows students to carry and conceal weapons on campus.
According to Lynn Mitchell, Public Safety Captain at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, campus gun violence hasn't increased since the policy was implemented two years ago.
Rep. Jamie Boomgarden, R-Chancellor, who has a concealed weapons permit, voted for the bill and said the legislation was intended to prevent the Board of Regents from all out banning guns on campus.
"It was just one more step toward banning guns in more places," he said.
Jim Shekleton, state Board of Regents legal counsel, simply expressed concern for safety and says the bill is unnecessary. He said the bill is not fact-driven, but emotionally motivated.
"When college students are victims of violent crime, 93 percent of that is off campus. The likelihood of something happening is diminishingly small," Shekleton said.
USD Criminal Justice professor Steve Feimer, who also has a concealed weapons permit, agreed. He said he probably wouldn't bring his gun to campus if the bill were to become law because the likelihood of needing it is so slim.
"I don't feel that there is that much of a risk on campus. These are rare events and I don't know that you can really plan for rare events," he said.
Feimer's bigger worry is with making sure those who have concealed weapons permits are properly trained.
"My main concern is that anybody that carries a firearm has training with the firearm. There is no required training like what police officers are required to have," he said.
Training is a common requirement in order to get a permit in other states. Boomgarden said when he applied for a permit in Iowa he was required to go through extensive gun training.
The representative said he not only learned how to use the firearm properly, but all applicants were also put through a number of scenarios to prove they knew when best to use their gun.
The students who support the bill say it is a matter of self defense and Second Amendment rights.
Jason Blatt is a student at the University of North Carolina and a national spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.
He said students should have the right to carry a gun on campus for safety reasons.
"The members of our group recognize that the police cannot be everywhere at once, and so there will not always be assistance nearby if an act of violence occurs," he said.
Boomgarden said he voted for the bill in the House because he thinks guns are banned in too many places already.
"If we start banning here and then there, where is it going to end?" he said.
He said instead that he wishes the argument would have never been brought up.
"It would have been best if there hadn't been a bill at all and people would have left it alone," he said.
Be the first to comment on this article!