jimpeel
Member
For Immediate Release
Friday, February 14, 2003
Contact:
Julie Bernstein (202) 822-6070
Kristin Becker
NEW RESEARCH: CAMPUS GUN POLICIES INCONSISTENT,
SOME POORLY ENFORCED
Gun Safety Group to Issue Reference Guide for Parents, Students
Washington, DC - Alliance for Justice and its student-led gun safety network, Gun Industry Watch, today released a nationwide survey of gun possession policies on the campuses of more than 150 colleges and universities. The survey uncovered a broad array of campus gun possession policies. Alliance for Justice (AFJ) plans to distribute the findings in the form of a reference guide for high school students and their parents preparing for the college application process.
'Parents wanting learning environments that are safe and secure, have a right to know if they are sending their children to campuses that allow students access to weapons 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week,' said AFJ President Nan Aron.
The AFJ study surveyed 150 of the country’s most prestigious and largest colleges and universities. While every college and university in the survey had adopted a gun possession policy of some sort, those policies varied greatly from campus to campus and enforcement of those standards was equally inconsistent. The AFJ study divided campus policies into five major categories:
Zero Tolerance
Policy states that the possession of a firearm is prohibited, with no exceptions - 82 schools fall into this category.
Campus Storage Facility
Policy states that possession of a firearm is prohibited, except if stored in a university sanctioned storage facility - 25 schools fall into this category.
Authorized Use Only
Policy states that firearms possession is for authorized use only - ROTC, rifle team or a specific educational activity - 27 schools fall into this category.
Campus Registration
Policy states that firearm must be registered with the University - five schools fall into this category (two of the five also require storage of the firearm).
Campus Authorization
Policy states that students must receive prior authorization to bring a rifle onto campus - 22 schools fall into this category.
While these categories are designed to help parents and students decipher the nuances of various gun policies, AFJ urges parents to look beyond a university’s stated policy and ask questions about enforcement of that policy. AFJ’s research included calls to the campus security offices of all colleges and universities in the survey. These interviews uncovered inconsistent enforcement of gun policies from campus to campus, with particularly lax enforcement at certain schools. For instance, some schools claiming to only allow guns on campus at 'secure' storage facilities have students guarding those facilities or allow 24 hour-a-day access to the weapons stored. Problems like these were discovered at campus gun storage facilities at the University of New Hampshire, Brigham Young University, University of Idaho, Montana State University, and the University of Tennessee.
'The thought of students picking up guns at three in the morning is truly alarming,' said Aron. 'We wish that all colleges and universities would adopt zero tolerance policies when it comes to guns on campus. In the meantime, parents and students have a right to know about the availability of deadly weapons on campuses.'
The AFJ Guns on Campus research also revealed emerging legal conflicts for campuses with strict gun policies located in states with lenient gun possession laws. In the past few years, thirty states have passed laws that allow most people to carry a concealed firearm on their person. Nineteen of those state concealed carry laws make no exception for college campuses and appear to directly conflict with university possession policies.
In Utah, for example, a state that allows citizens to carry concealed weapons in public venues, the State Attorney General is challenging the University of Utah’s strict gun possession policy. Similarly, students at Virginia’s George Mason University are using that state’s lenient
concealed carry law to challenge the university’s more restrictive gun policy.
'Clearly, there is an emerging trend to challenge the right of campus administrators to determine gun policies,' said Aron. 'We believe it is the duty of college administrators to regulate the possession of deadly weapons and protect the safety of students.'
According to a recent Harvard University study, 4.3 percent of U.S. college students own a firearm - 450,000 students nationwide. In the year 2000, the Department of Education reported 1,110 referrals to police from public and private four-year institutions, resulting in 855 arrests for illegal weapons possession.
The survey results can be found online at http://www.afj.org .
Friday, February 14, 2003
Contact:
Julie Bernstein (202) 822-6070
Kristin Becker
NEW RESEARCH: CAMPUS GUN POLICIES INCONSISTENT,
SOME POORLY ENFORCED
Gun Safety Group to Issue Reference Guide for Parents, Students
Washington, DC - Alliance for Justice and its student-led gun safety network, Gun Industry Watch, today released a nationwide survey of gun possession policies on the campuses of more than 150 colleges and universities. The survey uncovered a broad array of campus gun possession policies. Alliance for Justice (AFJ) plans to distribute the findings in the form of a reference guide for high school students and their parents preparing for the college application process.
'Parents wanting learning environments that are safe and secure, have a right to know if they are sending their children to campuses that allow students access to weapons 24 hours-a-day, seven days a week,' said AFJ President Nan Aron.
The AFJ study surveyed 150 of the country’s most prestigious and largest colleges and universities. While every college and university in the survey had adopted a gun possession policy of some sort, those policies varied greatly from campus to campus and enforcement of those standards was equally inconsistent. The AFJ study divided campus policies into five major categories:
Zero Tolerance
Policy states that the possession of a firearm is prohibited, with no exceptions - 82 schools fall into this category.
Campus Storage Facility
Policy states that possession of a firearm is prohibited, except if stored in a university sanctioned storage facility - 25 schools fall into this category.
Authorized Use Only
Policy states that firearms possession is for authorized use only - ROTC, rifle team or a specific educational activity - 27 schools fall into this category.
Campus Registration
Policy states that firearm must be registered with the University - five schools fall into this category (two of the five also require storage of the firearm).
Campus Authorization
Policy states that students must receive prior authorization to bring a rifle onto campus - 22 schools fall into this category.
While these categories are designed to help parents and students decipher the nuances of various gun policies, AFJ urges parents to look beyond a university’s stated policy and ask questions about enforcement of that policy. AFJ’s research included calls to the campus security offices of all colleges and universities in the survey. These interviews uncovered inconsistent enforcement of gun policies from campus to campus, with particularly lax enforcement at certain schools. For instance, some schools claiming to only allow guns on campus at 'secure' storage facilities have students guarding those facilities or allow 24 hour-a-day access to the weapons stored. Problems like these were discovered at campus gun storage facilities at the University of New Hampshire, Brigham Young University, University of Idaho, Montana State University, and the University of Tennessee.
'The thought of students picking up guns at three in the morning is truly alarming,' said Aron. 'We wish that all colleges and universities would adopt zero tolerance policies when it comes to guns on campus. In the meantime, parents and students have a right to know about the availability of deadly weapons on campuses.'
The AFJ Guns on Campus research also revealed emerging legal conflicts for campuses with strict gun policies located in states with lenient gun possession laws. In the past few years, thirty states have passed laws that allow most people to carry a concealed firearm on their person. Nineteen of those state concealed carry laws make no exception for college campuses and appear to directly conflict with university possession policies.
In Utah, for example, a state that allows citizens to carry concealed weapons in public venues, the State Attorney General is challenging the University of Utah’s strict gun possession policy. Similarly, students at Virginia’s George Mason University are using that state’s lenient
concealed carry law to challenge the university’s more restrictive gun policy.
'Clearly, there is an emerging trend to challenge the right of campus administrators to determine gun policies,' said Aron. 'We believe it is the duty of college administrators to regulate the possession of deadly weapons and protect the safety of students.'
According to a recent Harvard University study, 4.3 percent of U.S. college students own a firearm - 450,000 students nationwide. In the year 2000, the Department of Education reported 1,110 referrals to police from public and private four-year institutions, resulting in 855 arrests for illegal weapons possession.
The survey results can be found online at http://www.afj.org .
