Today in America, Second Amendment rights and university security missions are seemingly at odds. Recent legislation allows licensed firearms to be concealed-carried on campuses in Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin. Twenty states, plus the District of Columbia, currently have statutes or regulations that prohibit possession of firearms in colleges, universities and other post-secondary educational institutions, with various caveats. Arkansas’s law, for example, only applies to handguns. A number of states have passed specific “Campus Carry” laws mandating that concealed firearms be permitted on some or all areas of college and university campuses.
As campuses try to apply Section 5(a)(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in providing for safe and secure workplaces, not to mention legal expectations under the Clery Act, licensed carry advocates argue their constitutional rights are not to be infringed. College campuses find themselves caught between their moral responsibilities to provide a safe workplace and educational institution while respecting citizens’ right to bear arms.