Carry On Campus Carries On

(Will Oklahoma escape the major economic downturn affecting other parts of the country right now? If not, how should the state government respond to reduced revenues and stagnant or shortfall budgets? Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette.)

(Again, Okie Funk dedicates Steve Earle's song "City of Immigrants" to state Rep. Randy Terrill. Click on the link and turn up the speakers.)

(Update: The Oklahoma Senate voted Thursday to cut off consideration of amendments, and this stopped the latest effort to revive the "Carry On Campus" gun bill as described in the below post. But will there be more attempts in the future to pass the legislation?)

A legislative proposal that would allow college students to carry concealed weapons in classrooms is still alive despite overwhelming opposition from higher education administrators and faculty.

The disparity in opinion between those Oklahoma legislators who want to arm students and those in higher education who want to keep guns off college campuses defines the declining political health in this state. When lawmakers stop listening to reasonable arguments from its top public educators, then it is way past time for all the state’s educators to get more directly involved in the political process.

The gun legislation was initially advanced by state Rep. Jason Murphey (R-Guthrie), pictured right, who introduced a bill, dubbed “Carry On Campus,” that would allow specifically trained students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on college campus. (Murphey is also a self-proclaimed strong supporter of controversial state Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City), whose recent insensitive remarks about gay people made national news.) His argument has been that armed students and faculty might be able to prevent shooting incidents like the recent episode at Virginia Tech University. The bill, supported by the National Rife Association and its Oklahoma affiliate, passed the House by a wide margin and went to the Senate. A Senate committee then refused to hear the bill, and the measure was unofficially declared dead.

But under Oklahoma Legislature rules, bills can be amended to include the language of other bills. This is a common practice. Consequently, state Sen. Anthony Sykes (R-Moore) has filed an amendment including the gun proposal on House Bill 2606, which is actually legislation dealing with peeping Toms, according to media reports. Fortunately, the Oklahoma Senate voted Thursday to cut off consideration of amendments. This stops the latest effort to revive the "Carry On Campus" gun bill. Will there be more attempts to get the legislation passed?

All of the state’s college presidents, including University of Oklahoma President David Boren, Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis and University of Central Oklahoma President Roger Webb, have come out publicly against the bill. Most faculty organizations oppose the bill as well. Their argument is that allowing guns on campus could actually increase the risk of shooting incidents, inhibit faculty and student recruitment and obviously disrupt learning environments.

Here are some questions to consider: Would the bill create armed campus vigilantes, who self-designate themselves as members of a quasi-law enforcement group? What if an armed student misread classroom events and started firing for no reason? Would you want your child sitting next to an armed student, who was emotionally distraught on any given day?

Gov. Brad Henry should veto the legislation if it makes it through, but a greater need is for college educators at all levels to become more directly involved in the political process here. For too long, the neoconservatives have advanced their agenda here in Oklahoma with little dissent or even tacit approval from some in higher education. Now the state has become a junkyard for dead, conservative ideologies. Do you think the gun bill is bad? Do you think the neoconservatives will stop here? What type of legislation will they come up with next year and the year after that? It is time for change. Get involved.