Saturday, March 15, 2008

Boren Critical of Campus Gun Bill

Guns-toting students won't make Oklahoma campuses safer. So says OU President David Boren in a statement released yesterday.

Boren was responding to a bill by Rep. Jason Murphey, R-Guthrie, that would allow veterans and other military personnel to carry concealed weapons on campus.

"Current law protects the constitutional rights of our people, but it wisely bans guns from schools and colleges. We should stick to the laws that have worked so well and allow our colleges to continue to improve safety on their campuses," Boren said.

Boren noted that the bill would hurt OU's ability to recruit students and faculty who would consider the campus unsafe.

Boren appealed to the legislators to reconsider the bill:
If it would help for me to get down on my knees to plead with the Legislature for the safety of our students, I would do so.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Our state legislators are on a roll, what with support of bigot/buffoon Rep. Sally Kern, and now this: Okla. House Passes Campus Gun Bill.

"The legislation is more narrow than Murphey's original proposal, which would have allowed anyone at least 21 years old with concealed handgun carrying rights to carry weapons on campus. That version was similar to a Utah law.

"Murphey's bill would require people authorized to carry a concealed handgun to provide written notice to the university or college president prior to bringing a gun on campus. It would not limit a university's ability to restrict concealed weapons from access-controlled areas where people are subject to security checks.

"Murphey said his bill was a 'commonsense step' to expand Oklahoma's concealed weapons law to combat campus violence."

Hope the universities have enough room in their budgets for lots and lots of metal detectors.