ShareAriz. Senate panel advances guns on campus bill
Michelle L. PriceArizona lawmakers Monday advanced a pair of gun-rights bills that would expand where firearms could be carried, including a proposal allowing concealed weapons on university campuses, touching off pointed criticism from groups as divergent students and law enforcement officials.
A bill introduced by Republican state Sen. Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City allows people with necessary permits to carry concealed guns on campus grounds and prevents public universities and community colleges from restricting that privilege.
Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican who has signed several gun-rights measures into law, vetoed a version of that bill last year.
Gould said he's revised this year's version to address Brewer's stated concerns, including that the right apply only to the holders of concealed-carry permits.
Gould and other guns-rights supporters contend that restricting guns on campus stops law-abiding citizens from being able to defend themselves. University police chiefs and other critics say allowing guns on campus could make it more dangerous if police responding to a shooting can't quickly tell a wrongdoer from a person legally holding a weapon.
The National Conference of State Legislatures says 22 states ban carrying a concealed weapon on higher-education campuses and 25 leave the decision of whether to ban or allow carrying concealed weapons on campuses up to individual institutions.
In a front of a packed Senate hearing room Monday afternoon, about 15 people, including student leaders, professors and police officers, testified against the bill.
Jennifer Longdon, a gun owner and Phoenix resident, testified against the measure, describing how random gunfire seven years ago severed her spinal cord and left her paralyzed. Her then-fiance was with her and carrying a gun, but he was unable to respond because he was struck as well, she said.
Likewise, if college students are armed, they won't necessarily make anyone safer, said Longdon, who is the mother of an Arizona State University student.
"To know that there's a possibility that his roommate might be a binge drinker and a gun owner at the same time brings a chill to what's left of my spine," she said.
Paige Scalf, a University of Arizona psychology professor, also testified against the bill, saying it would put weapons in the hands of the same young people that car insurance companies and car rental companies don't recognize as fully responsible adults.
"This is not a population of people who are fully capable of making adult decisions," Scalf said.
Two people spoke in favor of the bill, including Brent Gardner, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association who challenged the idea that allowing concealed weapons on campus would be more dangerous than any other part of the state where they're permitted.
"Suddenly when they step foot across an imaginary boundary onto a college campus they become homicidal maniacs," Gardner said.
The bill passed 5-3, with one Republican, Sen. Steve Yarbrough of Chandler joining democrats to vote against it.
The bill is ensuring students have the constitutional right to defend themselves, said Sen. Rick Murphy, R-Glendale, so it doesn't matter whether people like or don't like the legislation.
The committee also passed a bill sponsored by Rep. Steve Smith, R-Maricopa, that allows someone carry a gun into a public building unless armed security is controlling all the entrances.
Lawmakers supporting the bill said it will simply apply the same policy to government buildings as any other.
"I can go into Wal-Mart and pay a utility bill, and I can carry a gun," Gould said. "But if I go into Lake Havasu City Hall to pay my water bill, they disarm me."
The two bills advance to the Senate Rules Committee. If approved, they go for a vote before the full Senate.