This week Missouri legislators are moving quickly to consider two dangerous bills that would effectively force universities and colleges to allow guns on campus.
If the Missouri legislature acts to pass either of these bills, Missouri would become one of the only states in the country to force colleges to allow guns on campus. Only one of these extreme proposals gives colleges or universities the ability to opt-out – and even then, it creates a narrow, burdensome and expensive process for doing so.
In response to the introduction of these bills, Becky Morgan, a volunteer with the Missouri chapter of Moms Demand Action stated: “Once again, legislators are aiming to do the gun lobby’s bidding while ignoring the dangerous implications that forcing guns onto campus can have for students and faculty. Students should not be forced to learn in an environment rife with fear of what their fellow peers may or may not be pulling out of their bags when a classroom dispute surfaces. If forcing guns onto college campuses are the best way to make campuses safer then why do the vast majority of university police chiefs oppose allowing guns on campus?”
Missouri Moms are not alone in their opposition to allowing guns on campus. Governor Jay Nixon recently said, “There’s a reason why campuses are gun free and they should remain that way. Gunfights on the quadrangle will not solve problems.”
If the Missouri legislature votes to force guns on campus it will be granting the wishes of the gun lobby – which is pushing these kinds of bills in states across the country – rather than ensuring the right of colleges and universities to be educational safe havens.