School and guns don't mix

Earlier this month, the governor of Idaho signed a bill into law that would allow students with gun permits to carry concealed weapons on university campuses across the state.

The reaction to the law in Idaho has been relatively negative, with all eight of the state’s public universities speaking out against it. The schools claim the law will threaten public safety and repel prospective
students.

Alarmingly, the momentum for the Idaho law stemmed from a bill passed in the Indiana State Legislature that would allow high school students to keep their guns in their cars during the school day. The Indiana bill has yet to be signed into law by Gov. Mike Pence.

But the question at hand is whether or not students have the right to carry concealed weapons on public university campuses. The Editorial Board believes the answer is a resounding no.

As is the case with every other politically charged issue of our time, we recognize that there are many layers to deal with when it comes to addressing gun violence. No one wants any more tragedies like Sandy Hook, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora or the more recent tragedy at Purdue.

The National Rifle Association, which drafted the Idaho bill and later sent it to the legislature for passage, believes this law would result in increased safety for students. Its president has said, “The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

On the other side of the aisle, progressives are more willing to pass laws restricting the use of guns in certain areas, hence the transformation of school campuses into “gun-free zones.” Unfortunately, it is obvious that making schools legally “gun-free” doesn’t result in schools being free from gun violence itself.

It seems that the solution to problem of gun violence is more complicated than most people would like to admit. But allowing students to carry concealed weapons on campuses won’t solve the issue. If anything, it might even result in more accidents and deaths than it would prevent.

Regardless of the effect of the Idaho law, we recognize there are more comprehensive and effective reforms we can undertake to reduce and prevent gun violence.

A few of these reforms include: mandatory background checks on gun buyers — a policy supported by nine out of 10 Americans — imposing a waiting period on the purchase of guns, monitoring the purchase of ammunition and implementing mandatory gun safety training.

The political problem with gun violence is it’s always framed as a question of balancing the number of laws imposed on gun owners with the number of deaths that result from gun violence. We believe this might not be an issue of how many laws we pass to reduce gun deaths, but rather an issue of passing smarter laws aimed at preventing the problem.

We will have to sit back and watch how the rollout of the Idaho law plays out.
But, in the meantime, if any Indiana legislators are getting any similar ideas, all we have to say is thanks, but no thanks.

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