DANIEL SALAZAR ON JAN 27, 2017
SOURCE: MCCLATCHY
Jan. 26--Kansas lawmakers got an earful Thursday from speakers who don't want to allow guns on college campuses starting this summer.
Under current law, public colleges and universities must allow students to carry concealed weapons on campus after July 1. That would range from regents universities such as the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University to dozens of community colleges across the state.
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SB 53 would exempt those schools from campus carry indefinitely. The bill found a sympathetic audience when it got a hearing before the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee. Most speakers expressed support for the bill.
Several professors, including K-State associate professor Dan Hoyt, said they would not have wanted to teach in a state with campus carry.
"I would never have left my job at a university in Ohio to come to Kansas State if I knew there would be guns on campus," Hoyt said.
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Other professors said some of their colleagues were "job searching" with the law's impending implementation.
Several current undergraduates said guns and college students, in all their stress and anxiety, would not mix well.
"I just wonder how many of you have hung out with a lot of college students recently, because we aren't exactly mature or responsible," said Reagan Tokos, a K-State student from Omaha. "I don't think adding guns to classroom settings or anywhere on campus would really be a great idea."
"Campuses are a learning environment, and guns have no place on campus except in the hands of law enforcement officials," added Washburn student Jaden Williams.
Supporters of the bill also echoed calls for local control.
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