The Faculty Senate at the University of Central Arkansas passed a resolution Tuesday to support President Tom Courtway’s stance that guns should be kept off campus despite state legislation that would allow the carrying of concealed weapons.
Act 226 will open university campuses statewide to handguns unless the institutions opt out. The law goes into effect 90 days after the state General Assembly adjourns.
The resolution recommends the Board of Trustees opt out of the current law and keep the university’s current policy of a gun-free campus.
The senate is only the latest to say they don’t want guns on campus. Police Chief Larry James told faculty previously that crime on campus is lower than in the community in general. He strongly supported not allowing guns on campus, he said.
“Since day one, the traditional viewpoint of college campuses is that they are sanctuaries, safe places,” James said.
James said those who have a permit for a concealed weapon are not trained for the chaos that comes with having a shooter on campus. The protection of the public should be left up to police, he said.
Professors who might carry a weapon will find it has a “chilling effect” on students-teacher relationships, James said.
Lecturer Deborah Bratton said she is taking a class for a concealed-carry permit but still wants UCA to opt out of the law. She said she would like police to consider an exemption for people who have weapons stored safely in their cars.
“I have no interest in bringing mine to class,” Bratton said.
Even if UCA opts out of the law this year, the issue must be revisited yearly, according to the law.
(Staff writer Scarlet Sims can be reached by email at scarlet.sims@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1246.)
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Comments (19)
Add commentGreat decision
hopefully the trustees will realize the seriousness of the situation as does Tom Courtway, the Campus Police Chief and the Faculty Senate and agree to remain a gun free zone.
"(Campus Police Chief) James said those who have a permit for a concealed weapon are not trained for the chaos that comes with having a shooter on campus. The protection of the public should be left up to police, he said."
Unfortunately, "Even if UCA opts out of the law this year, the issue must be revisited yearly, according to the law.", thus making it an issue for contention, time consumption, and money waste yearly. What a great Republicant (sic) legislature we have (NOT).
no-gun policy
Just increases the odds of someone being shot.
More people are shot on gun-free campuses than gun shows and shooting ranges.
Be safe everyone.
IF ONLY
The USA loved and cared for their students as much as Israel does theirs!!!
Absurd Conclusions
Your straw man fallacy.
Fact-check: "People with more guns tend to kill more people—with guns. The states with the highest gun ownership rates have a gun murder rate 114% higher than those with the lowest gun ownership rates. Also, gun death rates tend to be higher in states with higher rates of gun ownership. Gun death rates are generally lower in states with restrictions such as assault-weapons bans or safe-storage requirements."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/pro-gun-myths-fact-check
You Find One
And I'll Find Another
Switzerland trails behind only the U.S, Yemen and Serbia in the number of guns per capita; between 2.3 million and 4.5 million military and private firearms are estimated to be in circulation in a country of only 8 million people. Yet, despite the prevalence of guns, the violent-crime rate is low: government figures show about 0.5 gun homicides per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010. By comparison, the U.S rate in the same year was about 5 firearm killings per 100,000 people, according to a 2011 U.N. report.
Read more: http://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that...
Swiss gun laws
I would love to have the US adopt gun laws similar to those of Switzerland. The Swiss federal government requires gun permit applicants to demonstrate need for protection against a specific risk and pass weapons safety and firearm use regulation tests (Swiss code RS 514.54, ch. 6, art. 27 (1997)). Permit holders may own only one handgun for 6 months, after which they must renew their permit every 3 months (Swiss code RS 514.54, ch. 2, §1, art. 8 (1997)).
So
Then put together a committee of like-minded liberals, find someone in congress that will propose a re-write of the 2nd Amendment, get it passed and signed, then convince 3/4 of the states to ratify your amendment to the constitution, and bang! You're there. Or... just move to Switzerland. Problem solved!
from the law offices of DUH
"People with more guns tend to kill more people—with guns."
No kidding. Just ask Va Tech and Aurora, CO and Sandy Hook...they would all agree with that.
Interesting
One thing I'm curious about is which came first, the high gun murder rate or the high gun ownership rate. It's like the scenario of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Was the gun murder rate originally low and then increased dramatically only after the gun ownership rate increased? Meaning, more people were obtaining guns and the gun murder rate increased.
Or
Was the gun ownership rate originally low and then increased dramatically only after the gun murder rate increased? Meaning, more gun murders were occurring and so people rushed to buy guns for personal protection.
Hmmmm...Blackout: How the
Hmmmm...
Blackout: How the NRA suppressed gun violence research
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/14/blackout-how-the-nra-suppressed-gun-viole...
“This was about whether you want to have a loaded handgun in a house with a curious 5-year-old, or an angry spouse, or a depressed grandparent who may be contemplating suicide,” Kellermann, a Tennessee native who says he learned to shoot a gun at the age of 10 and now directs the RAND Corporation’s health research division, told MSNBC.com in an interview.
Even so, the gun-rights community reacted as if the studies were a declaration of war. Calling the research flawed and politically motivated, it launched a campaign to pressure government agencies not to fund further work on gun violence.
That pushback from gun-rights supporters sent a not-so-subtle message to the CDC—as well as any other government agency thinking of funding gun violence research, Kellerman said: “You toucha this topic, I breaka your face.”
The ugly campaign by the NRA to shut down studies at the CDC.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/12/gun_vio...
"In the 1990s, politicians backed by the NRA attacked researchers for publishing data on firearm research. For good measure, they also went after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for funding the research. According to the NRA, such science is not “legitimate.” To make sure federal agencies got the message, Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) sponsored an amendment that stripped $2.6 million from the CDC’s budget, the exact amount it had spent on firearms research the previous year.
But last summer, Dickey recanted. No longer in office, he wrote an editorial stating that “scientific research should be conducted into preventing firearm injuries and that ways to prevent firearm deaths can be found without encroaching on the rights of legitimate gun owners.”
Hmmmm...good Arkie!!!!!!!