Concealed Carry on Campus?

Republican lawmakers wasted little time in getting down to business on one of their top priorities: arming Montana college students.

Less than two weeks after the Legislature began its session, a bill that would allow concealed carry of firearms on public college campuses passed a vote by the GOP-controlled House. The bill now proceeds to the Senate.

The idea is that armed students could prevent mass shooting incidents on campus. No one would start popping caps in Abnormal Psychology 101 knowing everyone in the class is packing, would they?

Of course not. College students are known for their good judgment and restraint.

I do, however, remember a couple of shooting incidents involving Montana State students that occurred during my time in Bozeman. Neither involved a mass shooting.

In the spring of 1990, Brian Boeder and James Clevenger were both shot in their dorm room by another student armed with a sawed-off shotgun. They died a short time later on the operating table at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital.

The killer thought the two had vandalized his pickup truck.

In June 2006, two former MSU athletes were charged with killing Jason Wright, a Livingston man.

Although Wright was shot off campus, the murder weapon was found in an assistant coach’s locker in the fieldhouse. The coach was not involved.

The Montana University System opposes the bill.

“According to the best available data that we have been able to ascertain in the states that are experimenting with guns on campus there have been substantially more instances of accidental shootings, gun misfires and other dangerous mishaps than there have been instances of guns being the solution to many problems on campus,” Kevin McRae, Deputy Commissioner of Higher Education, told KXLF Butte.

Proponents of the bill say getting rid of “gun-free zones” would allow law-abiding citizens to defend themselves.

School shootings are rare in Montana and mass shootings unheard of here. GOP lawmakers appear to be looking for a solution when there isn’t a problem.

Instead of passing legislation that will improve the lives of Montanans, these legislators seems bent on passing laws that spring from fear. If they think arming college students is the best way to keep them safe, we’re in for a long, dismal session.

And it’s only just begun.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]