Concealed handguns may be allowed on college campuses and universities if House Bill 27 is approved by the state when lawmakers head to Baton Rouge next month for the start of the 2009 legislative session. The bill would allow individuals with a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm on the campuses of colleges or universities statewide.

This is not the first time the legislature considers allowing concealed handguns on college and university campuses. Last year, Rep. Ernest Wooten, R-Belle Chasse introduced House Bill 199, which was approved in committee but did not make it to the House floor for a full vote.

We oppose House Bill 27, also by Rep. Wooten, and encourage members of the House Criminal Justice Committee to vote against the measure.

The bill was designed as a restraint against killers on college campuses and was developed in response to campus shootings last year at Louisiana State University and Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.

Although the goal of the bill is to reduce the risk of a shooting on campus by allowing individuals to defend themselves, we believe the bill would make a campus crisis situation even more dangerous.

If University Police had to respond to a campus shooting, it would be difficult for officers to determine who to apprehend if multiple persons were carrying a firearm. In that situation, an innocent person could become victim to a concealed handgun.

We believe that students should not be able to take a campus shooting into their own hands with a concealed firearm. Trained law enforcement personnel should be the only ones to handle such situations.

We recognize an individual’s right to carry a weapon and we do not seek to infringe on that freedom. However, we also believe that there is no reason to bring a firearm onto the campus of a higher education institution.

Similar bills across the nation are not supported and fail to get passed in other state legislatures. Utah is the only state that supports the carrying of concealed handguns on campus. We believe Louisiana should not become the second state.

This week we reported that enrollment at Nicholls is increasing. If the bill passes, students may begin to feel unsafe on campus and this could lead to future declines in enrollment numbers.

We encourage University President Stephen Hulbert and the Student Government Association to once again publicly speak out against the bill. It is important the legislature knows that the University does not want concealed firearms on campus. If the Nicholls community joins together again in opposition to House Bill 27, the bill is likely to be defeated once more.