Court of Appeals ruling allows guns on Oregon’s seven public college campuses
By Sarah Hansell Staff Writer hansell14@up.edu
On Sept. 28 the Oregon Court of Appeals rejected the Oregon University System's (OUS) ban on guns on public college campuses.
Licensed students, faculty and staff of Oregon's seven public universities will now be allowed to carry a concealed weapon on campus.
Since UP is a private campus, it is not affected by the ruling. According to UP's weapons policy, students, faculty and staff are not allowed to carry firearms or weapons of any kind on campus.
"We are disappointed in the ruling of the Court in this case and will consider our options," Oregon University System (OUS) chancellor George Pernsteiner said in a Sept. 28 OUS news release. "We will continue to review the opinion in order to consider future options to protect the safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors."
UP Director of Public Safety Harold Burke-Sivers agrees.
"I think that's a mistake by the Court," Burke-Sivers said.
The decision came from a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation. The lawsuit was a response to the arrest of a Western Oregon University student for carrying a gun on campus in 2009.
The court decided the OUS's ban on guns on public college campuses goes against the state law that limits the authority to regulate gun use to the Oregon Legislature.
Students, faculty and staff with appropriate licensing will now be allowed to carry firearms on public college campuses including into sporting events, auditoriums, dorms and classrooms.
"On the student side what would most likely happen is students are intoxicated and they are playing around with the weapon that they're allowed to have and it goes off accidentally," Burke-Sivers said. "Accidental discharges, suicide or attempted suicide and workplace or domestic violence are more likely scenarios than defending themselves against an armed gunman."
The variance in training levels required to gain a gun license in different states is also an issue.
"Different states have different requirements for carrying concealed weapons," Burke-Sivers said. "So it's extremely inconsistent with the level of training."
Some students think guns on campus could help prevent casualties related to school shootings.
"People that could've prevented it weren't allowed to carry guns," sophomore Egan LaGrander said.
Some students think banning guns on campus infringes upon Second Amendment rights.
"I'm kind of all for it," sophomore Matthew Brown said. "Not all for it in that I want everyone carrying a gun, I just think it's your constitutional right."
However, some students think the risks are more important in this situation.
"I think it's an unnecessary protection or extension of rights that could have some serious risks," sophomore Brendan Beuley said.
Some students think allowing guns on campus would detract from campus safety.
"I don't think I'd feel very safe if I knew my classmates were carrying guns around," junior Maddie Eberhard said.
While the Court of Appeals decision allows students to carry concealed weapons, at least for now, there are no campus security forces in the state authorized to carry guns.
But the University of Oregon could soon take a step in that direction.
On Oct. 7, the State Board of Higher Education is scheduled to vote on whether to allow UO to establish its own police department with sworn officers, giving them the same authority as state and local police.
That would allow UO police to make arrests and book suspects into jail, along with other police powers. However, they would not be allowed to carry guns under the current proposal, and UO officials have said it could be up to two years before they ask for permission to arm UO officers.
Although there are no similar plans at UP, Burke-Sivers believes campus security officers, if properly trained and certified, should be allowed to carry guns.
"Absolutely," Burke-Sivers said. "As long as they're trained to the level of police."
Some students feel much better about Public Safety officers carrying guns than student, faculty and staff.
"I'm not sure how many situations on campus would require P-Safe to use guns," Beuley said. "At the same time I also trust P-Safe so if they were to have guns, it wouldn't scare me as much as if students and faculty had guns."
