“University Presidents’ Perceptions and Practice Regarding the Carrying of Concealed Handguns on College Campuses”
The study sent out 900 questionnaires and received 401 responses, enough to generalize the results.
The majority of the presidents were male (76 percent), white (87 percent), ages 60 to 69 (52 percent), did not own a firearm (79 percent) and did not grow up in a home that had a firearm in it (57 percent).
Few presidents had a valid permit to carry a concealed handgun, about 5 percent.
The homicide rate on college campuses was reported at 0.07 per 100,000 persons. This compares to a rate of 14.1 per 100,000 for persons ages 17-29 in the general population, a rate 200 times greater than on college campuses.
A Ball State study found 95 percent of university presidents oppose concealed handguns on campus with 91 percent citing accidental shootings of students as the primary concern for their opposition.
At least 37 school shootings have occurred so far in 2014. The most recent event occurred at a high school in Oregon on Tuesday. In the past few weeks alone, there have been multiple shootings, mass or otherwise.
However, the study maintains the college campus is the safest place for college students.
“The statement we made might look as an exaggeration, but if you look at the numbers, it’s not,” said study conductor Jagdish Khubchandani, an assistant professor of community health education.
The homicide rate for ages 17 to 29 is 200 times greater in the general population than on college campuses, the study shows.
The study also shows students already face numerous issues on campus. To Khubchandani, adding guns would only make the situation worse.
“I don’t see a place for guns on the campus; it’s a place for education and sharing ideas,” he said.
Caleb Criswell, a senior computer technology major, said he almost always feels safe on campus.
“No matter the hour of the day, nothing too bad ever happens,” Criswell said.
Ninety-eight percent of college presidents also thought students felt safe on their campuses. The college presidents thought faculty and students would feel unsafe on campus if guns were allowed, the study showed.
In 2013, a survey of 15 Midwestern schools showed 79 percent of students opposed guns on campus.
“The more guns there are, the less safe people feel,” Shane Wolfe, a senior history major, said. “But people have a constitutional right. Personally, there is no reason to have one on campus. We have police and they have guns. Having weapons invites them to be used.”
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill March 27 that allows legal gun owners to have their guns on school property as long as they remained in the car.
However, the bill creates an exclusion for higher education institutions. These institutions can make their own decisions.
Ball State’s policy states faculty, professional personnel, staff employees, students, visitors, guest and other people on university property are not permitted to have weapons on campus.
Sanctions and charges may be imposed on those found carrying a weapon.
Legislation that allows guns on university campuses is continuously proposed at the state level, though.
For the past few years, State Rep. Jim Lucas has continually introduced legislation to allow gun owners to carry their weapons at public universities. None of his proposals have made it to a hearing.
Whether universities allow students to carry guns on campus should not be up to the state, Khubchandani said.
“Decisions with guns on campus should be made with the entire campus community,” he said. “Not someone at the state level because they want to.”
He added he could see how a concealed weapon on campus might make someone feel safer, but he doesn’t agree.
“How many concealed weapon holders have jumped in to protect people?” he said. “It’s a false sense of security.”
Recently at Seattle Pacific University, student and volunteer security guard Jon Meis stopped an active shooter on campus with pepper spray while he was reloading his shotgun.
Part of the controversy surrounding whether students should be allowed to carry weapons on campus stems from the media exposure rare active shooters get, Khubchandani said.
He said the news doesn’t show people who die from guns in public every day, but “just the incidents on campus.”
These active shooter incidents aren’t taken into consideration with regard to the overall picture of gun deaths in the United States, Khubchandani said.
Wolfe added it is a cultural thing.
“Ever since Columbine, if psychopaths want to have their story or name to be heard, they blow up a school,” he said.
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