Idaho 7th state to allow guns in university classrooms

Last month, Idaho became the seventh state in the nation to allow people with concealed carry permits to bring their firearms into university classrooms.

Still, Utah is the only one of the other six states that mandates its schools abide by its concealed carry law. Colleges in the other states so far have either been able to opt out of the legislation or have delayed its implementation.

It’s not yet clear what will happen in Idaho.

North Carolina passed a law last year that allows concealed carry permit holders to have weapons on college campuses, but only under certain conditions.

“You have to have a concealed carry permit, the gun has to be kept in a locked container in a locked car and it can only be handguns,” said Randy Young, spokesman for UNC’s Department of Public Safety.

He said it would be a long shot for North Carolina to introduce a bill allowing concealed weapons in classrooms.

But Andy Pelosi, director of the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus, said he wouldn’t be surprised if a bill similar to Idaho’s was introduced in the N.C. General Assembly’s upcoming legislative session.

Young said DPS would have serious concerns if a bill was enacted in North Carolina that allowed concealed carry firearms on campus outside of locked cars.

Kurt Mueller, spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry, said in a statement that the Idaho law would not negatively impact the educational environment and it would allow students to defend themselves.

“We have seen these policies in effect in other states without the massive negative consequences predicted by our opposition, and we have every expectation this will likewise be Idaho’s experience,” he said.

Idaho’s law will go into effect July 1.

Despite the high-profile media coverage of school shootings across the nation, Everitt said schools are still the safest places in the country.

In 2000, a study by the Safe Schools Initiative Division released a report showing that there are 57 murders per 1 million people in the general population.

But only a little more than one murder per 1 million people happened on college campuses.

Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said laws like the one in Idaho could impede universities’ safety as well as their economic progress, making campuses less attractive to prospective students and faculty.

“The eventual result in these states is going to be a brain drain — both students and faculty will learn about these laws and take their education elsewhere,” he said.

state@dailytarheel.com