GVSU students join protest for right to carry gun on campus
Allendale, MI —
Today marks the conclusion of a week-long protest at colleges and universities across the nation.
Thousands of college students organized under Students for Concealed Carry on Campus wore empty gun holsters on their hip for Empty Holster Protest Week in opposition of state laws and school policies that make it illegal for students with concealed weapons permits to carry handguns on campus.
Brian Tucker, a senior studying criminal justice at Grand Valley State University, is the president of Students for Concealed Carry on Grand Valley, a registered student organization.
He received his concealed carry permit three years ago and got involved in the campus group when he raised questions about the legality of storing his pistol inside his car while he went to class.
Since then he’s joined the group composed mainly of nontraditional students.
“I grew up in a family that always valued the importance of protecting yourself and others. When I got to Grand Valley and came across the group I thought what arguments they had made sense,” Tucker said.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, once issued, a concealed pistol permit allows a person to carry anywhere in the state except where legally prohibited or in the gun free zones, one of them being college classrooms and dorms.
Currently there are two bills in the House and Senate that would repeal all nine pistol free zones, including carrying a handgun on a college campus.
Michigan Students for Concealed Carry director Reid Smith said Empty Holster Protest Week started in 2007 after the Virginia Tech shooting.
“It started as a way to express frustration. If we were armed, we’d be safer on college campuses. It also gives students a chance to explain their beliefs,” he said.
But the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says arming students equals a bad idea.
The organization which was founded in 1974 argues that the college years are the peak for engaging in gun crimes, abusing drugs and alcohol, attempting suicide and having other mental health problems, so it makes no sense to add a gun to the mix.
Brady Campaign president Paul Helmke said in a prepared statement the idea that colleges will be safer if loaded guns are permitted on campus is faulty and lethal logic.
“There’s a reason why this kind of wrongheaded legislation has failed 43 times in 23 states. Parents, faculty, university leaders, and students understand that forcing more guns in more places is dangerous and unnecessary.”
Tucker says the belief that more lives will be in jeopardy if guns are permitted on college campuses is based on ungrounded fears.
“Though they have a right to think that, they don’t have any of those issues in the states and 140 campuses in the U.S. that allow concealed carry. None of them have ever reported a single issue with concealed carry holders,” Tucker said.
Seven schools in Michigan took part in the protest: Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University, Central Michigan University, Oakland University, Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University and Southwestern Michigan College.
Hope College has a policy in place prohibiting firearms, weapons or fireworks on campus. As a private institution, the school’s policy will remain in place regardless of any new state legislation, spokesman Tom Renner said.
The college’s student development office has not been approached by anyone wishing to become a recognized student organization affiliated with Students for Concealed Carry.
But it’s not the private schools that Smith is worried about, it’s the public schools he says that are breaking the law.
By making their own school-wide policies against firearm possession, Smith says they’re disobeying the letter of the law and Act 319 of 1990, Section 123.1102 which states that a local unit of government cannot enact or enforce any ordinance or regulation pertaining to the possession of pistols or other firearms.
“Under state law you can carry a concealed weapon anywhere on campus except in a classroom or dorm at which point it has to be open carry, or visible,” he said.
“Colleges just assume that they’re not a local unit of government, thus they can create their own rules. In my opinion, if a county, township and city are governed by the state law, then a college should be too.”
Thousands of college students organized under Students for Concealed Carry on Campus wore empty gun holsters on their hip for Empty Holster Protest Week in opposition of state laws and school policies that make it illegal for students with concealed weapons permits to carry handguns on campus.
Brian Tucker, a senior studying criminal justice at Grand Valley State University, is the president of Students for Concealed Carry on Grand Valley, a registered student organization.
He received his concealed carry permit three years ago and got involved in the campus group when he raised questions about the legality of storing his pistol inside his car while he went to class.
Since then he’s joined the group composed mainly of nontraditional students.
“I grew up in a family that always valued the importance of protecting yourself and others. When I got to Grand Valley and came across the group I thought what arguments they had made sense,” Tucker said.
According to the Office of the Attorney General, once issued, a concealed pistol permit allows a person to carry anywhere in the state except where legally prohibited or in the gun free zones, one of them being college classrooms and dorms.
Currently there are two bills in the House and Senate that would repeal all nine pistol free zones, including carrying a handgun on a college campus.
Michigan Students for Concealed Carry director Reid Smith said Empty Holster Protest Week started in 2007 after the Virginia Tech shooting.
“It started as a way to express frustration. If we were armed, we’d be safer on college campuses. It also gives students a chance to explain their beliefs,” he said.
But the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says arming students equals a bad idea.
The organization which was founded in 1974 argues that the college years are the peak for engaging in gun crimes, abusing drugs and alcohol, attempting suicide and having other mental health problems, so it makes no sense to add a gun to the mix.
Brady Campaign president Paul Helmke said in a prepared statement the idea that colleges will be safer if loaded guns are permitted on campus is faulty and lethal logic.
“There’s a reason why this kind of wrongheaded legislation has failed 43 times in 23 states. Parents, faculty, university leaders, and students understand that forcing more guns in more places is dangerous and unnecessary.”
Tucker says the belief that more lives will be in jeopardy if guns are permitted on college campuses is based on ungrounded fears.
“Though they have a right to think that, they don’t have any of those issues in the states and 140 campuses in the U.S. that allow concealed carry. None of them have ever reported a single issue with concealed carry holders,” Tucker said.
Seven schools in Michigan took part in the protest: Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University, Central Michigan University, Oakland University, Northern Michigan University, Western Michigan University and Southwestern Michigan College.
Hope College has a policy in place prohibiting firearms, weapons or fireworks on campus. As a private institution, the school’s policy will remain in place regardless of any new state legislation, spokesman Tom Renner said.
The college’s student development office has not been approached by anyone wishing to become a recognized student organization affiliated with Students for Concealed Carry.
But it’s not the private schools that Smith is worried about, it’s the public schools he says that are breaking the law.
By making their own school-wide policies against firearm possession, Smith says they’re disobeying the letter of the law and Act 319 of 1990, Section 123.1102 which states that a local unit of government cannot enact or enforce any ordinance or regulation pertaining to the possession of pistols or other firearms.
“Under state law you can carry a concealed weapon anywhere on campus except in a classroom or dorm at which point it has to be open carry, or visible,” he said.
“Colleges just assume that they’re not a local unit of government, thus they can create their own rules. In my opinion, if a county, township and city are governed by the state law, then a college should be too.”
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