Colleges are places of learning and students should be free to express their opinions and learn without the fear of another student carrying a gun to a lecture or at a tailgate. Colleges also have unique risk factors—increased rates of mental illness, and prevalent drug and alcohol abuse¹American College Health Association, “National College Health Assessment II: Reference Group Executive Summary, Spring 2019” (Silver Spring, MD: American College Health Association, 2019), https://www.acha.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/NCHA-II_SPRING_2019_US_REFERENCE_GROUP_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY.pdf; Sarah Ketchen Lipson, Emily G. Lattie, and Daniel Eisenberg, “Increased Rates of Mental Health Service Utilization by US College Students: 10-Year Population-Level Trends (2007–2017),” Psychiatric Services 70, no. 1 (November 2018): 60–63, https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201800332; John E. Schulenberg et al., Monitoring the Future: National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2019: Volume II, College Students & Adults Ages 19-60 (Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan, 2020), https://bit.ly/3gSnLXV; Justine W. Welsh, Yujia Shentu, and Dana B. Sarvey, “Substance Use Among College Students,” Focus: Journal of Life Long Learning in Psychiatry 17, no. 2, (2019): 117–27, https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20180037.—which make the presence of guns potentially deadly.

In the states that have already passed legislation to force colleges to allow guns on campus there have been unintentional shootings by faculty and students in classrooms, dorm rooms, cafeterias, and other places on campus.²In Idaho, a professor with an ”enhanced” carry permit unintentionally shot himself in the leg during a chemistry lab following the passage of a 2014 law that forced Idaho colleges to allow enhanced permit-holders to carry guns on campus (Associated Press, “Idaho State University Teacher Accidentally Shoots Self in Class,” CBS News, September 4, 2014, http://every.tw/188lNOu.); In 2016, a permit-holding student in Texas unintentionally discharged his gun in his dorm room just weeks after a guns-on-campus law went into effect (Claire Cardona, “Tarleton State Student Accidentally Fires Gun in Campus Dorm,” Dallas Morning News, September 15, 2016, https://bit.ly/3mGzISB.); In 2017, a Utah student with a concealed carry permit reached into his backpack and unintentionally fired his gun in a campus cafeteria, hitting a table and light fixture. It was the second incident of unintentional gunfire on the campus in two years (Luke Ramseth, “UVU Student Accidentally Discharges Firearm near Campus Restaurants; No One Injured,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 26, 2017, http://bit.ly/2qj103T.); In 2019, a University of Georgia student shot himself in the leg in a student lounge on campus )Gabriela Miranda, “UGA Community Debates Gun Law after Accidental Shooting on Campus,” The Red & Black, October 24, 2019, https://bit.ly/37pkknc.). For more examples see, Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, “Gunfire on School Grounds,” https://everytownresearch.org/maps/gunfire-on-school-grounds/; Keep Guns Off Campus, “Incidents on Campus in States That Allow Guns on Campus (as of 2.21.19),” May 15, 2019, https://www.keepgunsoffcampus.org/blog/2019/05/15/incidents-campus-states-allow-campus-carry-2-21-19/; Safe Tennessee Project, “Incidents on College Campuses That Allow Campus Carry,” https://safetennesseeproject.org/2020/02/07/incidents-on-college-campuses-that-allow-campus-carry/. There have also been numerous suicides, homicides, and guns left unattended.³Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, “Gunfire on School Grounds,” https://everytownresearch.org/maps/gunfire-on-school-grounds/; Keep Guns Off Campus, “Incidents on Campus in States That Allow Guns on Campus (as of 2.21.19),” May 15, 2019, https://www.keepgunsoffcampus.org/blog/2019/05/15/incidents-campus-states-allow-campus-carry-2-21-19/; Safe Tennessee Project, “Incidents on College Campuses That Allow Campus Carry,” https://safetennesseeproject.org/2020/02/07/incidents-on-college-campuses-that-allow-campus-carry/.  

Guns on campus policies and proposals have caused widespread opposition from professors,⁴Molly Hennessy-Fiske, “New Law Allowing Concealed Guns on Campus Roils University of Texas,” Los Angeles Times, March 24, 2016, https://lat.ms/2Ih12YJ; James A. Shepperd et al., “The Anticipated Consequences of Legalizing Guns on College Campuses,” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 5, no. 1 (March 2018): 21–34, https://doi.org/10.1037/tam0000097. administrators,⁵James H. Price et al., “University Presidents’ Perceptions and Practice Regarding the Carrying of Concealed Handguns on College Campuses,” Journal of American College Health 62, no. 7 (October 3, 2014): 461–69, https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2014.920336. and students,⁶Matthew R. Hassett, Bitna Kim, and Chunghyeon Seo, “Attitudes toward Concealed Carry of Firearms on Campus: A Systematic Review of the Literature,” Journal of School Violence 19, no. 1 (2020): 48–61, https://doi.org/10.1080/15388220.2019.1703717; James A. Shepperd et al., “The Anticipated Consequences of Legalizing Guns on College Campuses,” Journal of Threat Assessment and Management 5, no. 1 (March 2018): 21–34, https://doi.org/10.1037/tam0000097; Charles Boothe, “Right to Protest: Students from across State Plan March against Campus Carry Bill,” Bluefield Daily Telegraph, March 3, 2019, https://bit.ly/33DSQZR; Conor Griffith, “WVU Students Protest against Campus Carry Bill,” Morgantown News, February 21, 2019, https://bit.ly/36xxYW8; Hilary Butschek, “UGA Students, Professors Protest ‘Campus Carry’ Bill, Demand Gun-Free Campus,” Florida Times-Union, March 17, 2016, https://bit.ly/36vMxcD; Dave Philipps, “University of Texas Students Find the Absurd in a New Gun Law,” New York Times, August 24, 2016, https://nyti.ms/2LcWZOf. fear amongst LGBTQ+ and Black students,⁷Ema O’Connor, “Texas LGBT Students Say They Don’t Feel Safe Now That People Can Carry Guns on Campus,” BuzzFeed News, August 29, 2016, https://bit.ly/3lL6j8G; Ema O’Connor, “Texas HBCU Students Worry More about Police Now That Guns Are Allowed on Campus,” BuzzFeed News, September 1, 2016, https://bit.ly/3qs4mBD. and lawsuits.⁸Matthew Watkins, “Three UT Professors Sue to Block Campus Carry,” Texas Tribune, July 6, 2016, https://bit.ly/36MJBsy; Eric Stirgus, “Professors Ask Court to Overturn Georgia’s Campus Carry Law,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 28, 2017, https://bit.ly/2We1Ocr. Guns on campus laws also cost universities significant amounts for security upgrades.⁹Maura Ewing, “New Campus Gun Laws Have Colleges Shopping for Metal Detectors. For Big Schools, the Bills Are Eye-Popping,” The Trace, April 25, 2017, https://bit.ly/36KYA6f; Kristen M. Clark, “Florida State Colleges to Ask Legislature for $74M to Enhance Campus Security,” Tampa Bay Times, December 17, 2015, https://bit.ly/2WhGIKf; “Concealed Carry Law Costs Idaho Colleges $3.7M,” Campus Safety Magazine, February 5, 2015, https://bit.ly/3orOME9; West Virginia Legislature, HB2519 Fiscal Note, February 7, 2019 https://bit.ly/3mAiLJB; Bill Dentzer, “2014 Concealed Weapons Law Costs Colleges $3.7 million,” Idaho Statesman, February 3, 2015, https://www.sdbor.edu/services/infogovrelations/documents/Idaho2014Law.pdf.