Citing concerns about safety and suicide, a majority of people who spoke at a Thursday hearing on guns at the University of Wyoming said they did not support allowing weapons on campus. But others advocated for easing restrictions at Wyoming’s lone four-year public university, contending an armed public would better protect against mass shootings or other events.
At issue is the current UW policy that doesn’t allow anyone but law enforcement and those with explicit permissions to have “dangerous weapons” in UW facilities.
The policy review comes after Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed legislation in March that would have eliminated most gun-free zones in the state, but called on institutions like school districts, community colleges and UW “to take up these difficult conversations again and establish policies that allow for the safe carry of concealed weapons within their facilities.”
Surveys and public comments
UW solicited public feedback last month on various ways to change its weapons policy in an online survey that attracted more than 3,000 responses, according to President Ed Seidel’s state of the university address.
Those responses — which were provided to university trustees in Thursday’s meeting materials — showed that 64.4% of respondents wanted the university’s no-guns policy to remain the same. That included 87.5% of those who self-identified as faculty, 55.3% of students and 50% of state residents.
The meeting materials also listed comments garnered from the survey, ranging from staunch support for allowing students to defend themselves via firearms to those expressing horror at the prospect of students having or being around more weapons.
Those sentiments were echoed by many of those who spoke Thursday, including students, teachers, alumni, community members and military veterans.
One commonly cited was a concern that an increase of guns on campus could lead to higher numbers of suicides.
“My freshman year, I had a good friend kill themself in the dorm,” said UW elementary education major Liz Pierson. “While this wasn’t with a gun, it shows that suicides in the dorm do happen.”
She noted Wyoming’s high suicide rates and how guns are a far more lethal method of suicide. She also referenced a survey in which researchers concluded that campuses allowing concealed carry had far higher likelihoods of firearm-involved suicides.
This concern was reiterated by Sara Bursac, a Laramie resident, social worker, mental health counselor and mother.
Others used their three minutes of allowed public testimony to advocate for concealed carry as a way to protect the campus community from mass shootings and other threats. That included UW students and veterans Brandon Calloway and Kurtis Silvernale.
“During my military career, I learned the critical importance of preparedness and how to respond effectively to unpredictable threats,” Calloway, a law student, said. “I’m here today to advocate for revising [UW’s weapons policy] to allow unlimited, permitless concealed carry on campus, because this is not just about rights, it’s about safety and survival.”
“This is not just about rights, it’s about safety and survival.”
UW student and veteran Brandon Calloway
“Our campus is broad and our buildings are large,” Silvernale added. “Therefore, police [who] respond … are going to be restricted in their ability to intervene and mitigate any type of harm to student bodies.”
A graduate student in the mental health counseling program also spoke in favor of allowing guns on campus, though believed there should be guardrails.
“I am in support of concealed carry on campus, with specific requirements being met,” Noah Raish said. “I would want those who are responsible and who do respect the law, who are trained to carry and to be citizens who are willing to stand up for those who are innocent and cannot defend themselves.”
A UW professor and some older students noted that they still preferred keeping UW’s policies the way they are.
Molly McCully Brown, a faculty member who spoke not as a professor but as a community member and teacher, said she tells her students that if a shooting happens, she wants them to run and not worry about her.
“I’m acutely aware of the ways my disability would make it harder for me to help protect them and might even put them at increased risk,” said Brown, who uses a wheelchair.
Still, she said, it’s important to keep firearms away from a learning environment that frequently challenges students’ perspectives and can cause discomfort — something she’d find harder to do knowing students may be armed.
Others argued concealed carry might actually hinder an effective law enforcement response to a mass shooting at UW. Allowing concealed carry on campus is “going to infringe [on] the efficient operation of official responders with confusion and indecision,” said Vietnam war veteran and graduate student Michael Besinger.
“It will chill discourse for faculty and students,” he added. “And third, it will potentially reduce the tendency of people to come to the University of Wyoming.”
Guy Robertson, a student who used a cane to walk to the front of the room, said he’s a gun owner, but doesn’t like to walk around with a gun.
“I’m concerned that two knuckleheads will get into an argument, pull out their guns, go bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, shoot the other person and other people who are innocent,” he said. “I don’t like guns on campus.”
Steve Dillon directs the UW School of Culture, Gender, and Social Justice, but said he spoke Thursday as a citizen and teacher.
He said that when he first moved to Laramie he encountered men in orange hats with guns at a trailhead. They’d asked him what he was doing, and he told them he’d just moved there and wanted to go for a hike.
“They raised their guns, pointing them at my chest and said, ‘You just moved here? Go the F back where you came from,’” Dillon said.
“I am prepared to die while teaching to save just one student’s life. What will you do?”
Steve Dillon
Wyoming is the only place Dillon has had a gun pointed at him, he said, not any big city. He added that he’s experienced five bomb threats and two attempted shootings.
“I am prepared to die while teaching to save just one student’s life,” he said to the trustees. “What will you do?”
Laramie City Council candidate and UW Art Museum faculty member William Bowling spoke as a resident and also felt, as a gun-owner, that firearms should be kept off campus.
“I believe the following to be true: Firearm access is not under threat in the state of Wyoming and guns do not belong in educational settings,” he said.
Other students cited their own beliefs that guns shouldn’t be on campus and that some students may leave if firearms are allowed. UW’s enrollment has declined for six years, according to data presented at the state of the university address.
Some other students who wanted to speak either had to leave or couldn’t attend due to class schedules, according to those who were in the room.
Law and the future
UW Law Professor George Mocsary was also invited to speak to the board about guns on campus.
Mocsary presented a raft of materials and research mainly focusing on other colleges that have allowed some level of firearm carry. He cited instances in which individuals who conceal carry have been able to stop active assailants.
Mocsary also noted that while police may come into a situation unsure of who the “bad guy” may be, people in the room would and could more readily stop them.
Mocsary’s research and data “suggest that victim firearms use against an active assailant is likely to be effective and safe,” he said.
Some limits Mocsary suggested included requiring holsters for weapons, noting how some accidents involved unholstered weapons. He also noted the types of training available for active assailant situations.
The full testimony from Thursday’s hearing can be found here.
The UW Board of Trustees will likely take action on the issue of firearms on campus during its next meeting on Oct. 16, according to Chairman Kermit Brown.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
Terrific article on an issue many would like to ignore – thank you Madelyn. I listened to the testimony by students, Laramie residents, a few faculty (all strictly limited to a 3 minute period) only to be followed by the College of Law Director of the Firearms Research Center who was allowed to speak speak in support of Concealed Carry for 13 minutes. The question raised in my mind is where did the Firearms Research Centre come from as a UW entity. The only evidence I have been able to discover is a news item in the USConcealedCarryAssoc. (Concealed carry.com) on 4/27/22.
Such a presentation seems to be at odds with President Siedel’s statement that faculty are “to educate” not “inculcate”
I’d like to see an exploration of insurance premium increases if UW allows guns on campus.
Or, perhaps liability insurance would be unavailable following such a change.
Add in a little alcohol, what could go wrong?
I have question for all liberals. Why do you all scream gun control. Yet when illegal migrant rapes or murders innocent USA citizen you all don’t scream BORDER CONTROL? Clue me in.
There was a bipartisan bill that would have flown through congress to address (or at least start to address) the immigration situation. A certain presidential candidate encouraged the GOP faction of congress to torpedo it. Why? Because it’s easier to run on an unsolved problem in an election year than to allow congress to take action and start to solve it now.
Most “liberals” as you put it want the gun problem to be addressed now regardless of the election cycle because it’s simply ridiculous to do absolutely nothing knowing full well the next mass shooting is always weeks away. It’s not a “Liberal” thing to not want you or your loved ones to be shot and killed needlessly because some people can’t understand that we can still have the 2A and still have some common sense gun laws. This isn’t a “slippery slope” thing, it’s time for some people to grow up and realize that.
Also, most of our criminals, as in 99% of them, are citizens of the US not immigrants.
No worries about enrollment revenues drying up; thanks to the modern marvels of branding and marketing any potential miscommunications of unsolicited aggression on campus will be immediately dispelled by the peaceful posture and soothing countenance of UW’s iconic Cowboy Joe ® logo. Next question please…
I can see the new ads for UW: “Come to UW, where you can be a real cowboy and carry a gun around campus. Hell, we even have a Firearms Research Center at our law school and a law school professor who advocates for you to be able to carry a gun on campus. If someone pisses you off or insults your girlfriend, you don’t have to be content with a throwing a punch or a return insult, you can pull out your gun and shoot the place up.”
Yup. This will also curtail community support for music, sports, art, lectures and other avenues of public participation on campus if the environment includes weapons carried by those who are not trained to ‘protect’ the rest of us.
I can’t think of a better way to make recruiting harder than by allowing the public to carry guns on the UW campus. What person wanting to have as traditional college experience as possible is going to come to UW when they know there are likely to find themselves sitting in class next to someone with a holstered weapon. Or worse, to know that the alcohol that often fuels late adolescent exploration now comes with guns. Consideration of ending the existing no-gun policy shows just how much the Legislature is marginalizing itself from the University and its community, as well as Laramie and the larger community of potential students. Good job legislature, good job…
We would not expect a uniformed law enforcement officer to enter a classroom prepared to deliver an off the cuff lecture on the phonology of the Taa language of Botswana, or sprint onto the field at War Memorial Stadium and quarterback a decisive victory against Air Force; and until we summit that peak of universal enlightenment where all miracles have become mundane, I do not believe that UW faculty, staff, or student body can be (nor should be) burdened with the equally ridiculous expectation of
safely neutralizing any lethal threats on campus. We each have our own unique God given set of skills and aspirations. UW is a crucible where high expectations are sometimes tempered by cold hard realizations. Creating an environment where the heavy weight of emotions and limitations might be counter balanced at any moment with an equal measure of ballistic lead is not going to be in anyone’s best interest.
Martha. God forbid one ever has to call 911 in case of event. But and here the big but. Law enforcement won’t get there to save you if that happens. They merely chalk out your body outline on floor. V. P. Harris said it best recently. “SAFTEY a IS CIVIL RIGHT”. Now every safety program written out here always starts with “SAFTEY STARTS WITH YOU”. Every safety program booklet starts off with that phrase. Let those that wish to carry firearm be. The life they save may be yours.