The Wild West Once Again

By Sawyer Stull

On Aug. 1,  Texas Senate Bill 11 commonly referred to, as “Campus Carry” will go into effect­ allowing students with concealed handgun licenses to carry a concealed weapon on Texas campuses.

Texas State
From: Shane Torgerson 

Karina Lopez
From Bailey Savage

Campus carry is a very polarizing topic with people siding on either side of the issue. The question that campus carry presents is "Does bringing fire arms to campus really make campus safer?" Many people feel that students are the main people affected by this, but campus employees also have opinions on the bill. Karina Lopez, who works at Einstein’s Bagels, does not support campus carry and is worried about how the presence of firearms may affect her job.

Bob Fischer
From Sawyer Stull

“Someone who is super angry could hold up a gun at my job and be like, ‘give me a bagel!’” said Lopez.

Bob Fischer, a philosophy teacher at Texas State, also is not in support of campus carry. Fischer points out the issues that campus carry presents in the classroom.

“I worry about the impact on classroom discussion,” said Fischer. “I worry about the way that the presence of fire arms changes our ability to have open discussions about uncomfortable topics.”

Many students feel that allowing the presence of firearms on campus will do the opposite of what campus carry was intended to do, ultimately making campus a less safe place. Alex Molina, a Political Science major, is a student that feels like campus carry has the potential to make universities more dangerous.

Alex Molina
From: Logan Martin

“How am I supposed to know the person carrying a weapon is actually a student”, said Molina. “Anyone could put on a backpack on, come to campus and appear as a student.”

Heather C. Galloway
From: Ron Silva

Teachers are concerned that campus carry will impact the way students and teachers may interact. The Dean of the Honors College, Heather C. Galloway believes it may affect the curriculum.

“Supposedly other universities that have enacted camp carry are encouraging their faculty to avoid discussing controversial topics”, said Galloway. “That’s probably my biggest concern is that it might change how we interact with students and how we treat the students.”

Arte Vega
From: Gabrielle Gibson

On the other hand not everyone is opposed to campus carry. Arte Vega, a Computer Science major, is a student that doesn’t see campus carry as an issue but almost a right.

“I support it because of course the second amendment”, said Vega. “I guess for protection- for security.”

Dylan Carpenter
From: Sawyer Stull

Dylan Carpenter is another student that supports campus carry. Carpenter feels that there is enough checking that goes into someone back ground when you get a concealed handgun license. With his CHL Carpenter feels that campus carry could help him and others in a time of crisis.

 “I would feel better knowing I have the capability of defending myself and my classmates in the event of an active shooter on campus”, said Carpenter.

This is not something that campus has been taking lightly; University President Denise M. Trauth has taken several steps to ensure student and faculty safety. Trauth has set up a task force, a set of rules and an online survey that can be found on her Texas State website page.