Stop SB 1254

Dear Esteemed Senators and Representatives of Idaho,

Given recent events in the State Affairs Committee and the approval of SB 1254 in committee, we, as individual faculty and staff members of the university, are writing to express our concern over SB 1254/ HB[TBD] and its implications for our workplace safety. As you know, this bill will allow people with enhanced concealed weapons permits to carry guns on campus, including in classrooms. We have several concerns that we would like to share.

- First, the University of Idaho is a place dedicated to academic development. In some of our classes we expect students to discuss and debate issues that bring up raw emotion, as per the university’s learning outcomes (approved by the State Board of Education). Having armed students in the classroom prohibits free and open communication by intimidating people (Hemenway, Azrael, and Miller 2001) and preventing rigorous intellectual debate. This bill puts limits on academic integrity and the mission of the University of Idaho.

- Similarly, the State Constitution provides administrative autonomy to the university. Preventing the University of Idaho from regulating guns on campus could be an infringement on this autonomy and thus unconstitutional. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine a situation more in violation of the spirit of such autonomy.

- Third, there is no need to change the current laws. Presently, students are allowed to bring encased unloaded weapons on campus and store them properly in university-provided storage. Protection of students is left in the capable hands of well-trained campus security and the Moscow Police Department. We believe, as does Boise Police Chief Mike Masterson, among others, that these measures are sufficient for safety on campus. Campuses are one of the safest public places in the United States (homicide rate of 1 per 1,000,000 on college campuses vs. 57 per 1,000,000 in other public spaces) and many believe this is because guns are not permitted on campus (Siebel 2008).

- Fourth, it is statistically more likely that those who carry concealed weapons will injure themselves or others accidentally than respond to gun violence (Miller, Azrael, and Hemenway 2001; Siebel 2008). Accidental shootings are not a problem resolved simply by training permit carriers. Research shows that the frequency of accidental discharge by police officers in the daily use and care of their weapon is a clear and present danger (Baker 2008). In Detroit, a police officer accidentally shot a woman when hugging her because his gun was improperly replaced in its holster. In Chino Valley, California, a police officer’s improperly mounted gun went off when on display at an elementary school during a safety event, injuring three children. In San Francisco, a police officer reaching for his Taser grabbed his gun instead and killed Oscar Grant. These are law enforcement officers, who have more training than the vast majority of concealed carry permit holders. Allowing students with less extensive training to have guns in the classroom presents a far greater danger to our students and ourselves than does the current policy. The Boise Police Chief has also stated that the training received by people with enhanced CCW permits is “insufficient…to carry in these environments.”

- Fifth, research by Ian Ayers of Yale Law School and John Donohue III of Stanford Law, among others, has shown that laws such as the one you are proposing statistically correlate with higher levels of crime, rather than a reduction of crime. The presence of more guns does not act as a deterrent but rather increases the risk of violence on campus (Ayers and Donohue 2004; Siebal 2008; Miller, Azrael, and Hemenway 2001; Miller, Azrael, Hemenway, and Vriniotis 2005).

- Finally, research shows there to be significant, detrimental problems caused by adding guns to an environment, such as a college campus, that already have high levels of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and suicide (the second leading cause of death for college students) (Skorton and Altschuler 2013, Siebel 2008). Nearly every study on the subject finds that guns are the single most common form of suicide (Kellerman et al, 1992; Olson et al 1999) and there is a strong and established relationship between suicide and firearm ownership (Kposowa 2012; Miller, Azrael, and Hemenway 2002). The introduction of guns into this environment is particularly dangerous.

These points are based on scientific study and demonstrate the negative impact that this legislation will have on the safety of faculty, staff, and students at the University of Idaho. However, we will also note Ronald Reagan’s prescient concerns regarding the proliferation of handguns. He stated: “Every year, an average of 9,200 Americans are murdered by handguns, according to Department of Justice statistics. This does not include suicides or the tens of thousands of robberies, rapes and assaults committed with handguns. This level of violence must be stopped.” Let’s not add to the statistics that troubled Reagan. Keeping handgun deaths down by prohibiting these weapons on the University of Idaho campus is one important step towards enacting this change.

We hope that you take the time to consider our demand for safety in our place of employment.

Sincerely,

References and Additional Sources
Ayers, Ian and John J. Donohue III. 2003. “Shooting Down the More Guns, Less Crime Hypothesis.” Stanford Law Review. 55:1193.
Baker, Al. 2008. “11 Years of Police Gunfire, In Painstaking Detail.” The New York Times. (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/nyregion/08nypd.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)
Harnish, Thomas. 2008. “Concealed Weapons on State College Campuses: In Pursuit of Individual Liberty and Collective Security.” American Association of State Colleges and Universities. (http://www.aascu.org/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=4545)
Hemenway, David, Catherine Barber, Matthew Miller. 2010. “Unintentional Firearm Deaths: a Comparison of Other-inflicted and Self-inflicted Shootings.” Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42:1184-8.
Hemenway, David, Deborah Azrael, and Matthew Miller. 2001. “Are Guns Used More by US Civilians for Self-defense or for Intimidation?” Western Journal of Medicine 174(6): 396.
Kposowa, Augustine J. 2012. “Association of Suicide Rates, Gun Ownership, Conservatism and Individual Suicide Risk.” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 48(9):1467-1479.
Miller, Matthew, Deborah Azrael, and David Hemenway. 2001. “Firearm Availability and Unintentional Firearm Deaths.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 33:477-84.
Miller, Matthew, Deborah Azrael, David Hemenway. 2002. “Household Firearm Ownership and Suicide Rates in the United States.” Epidemiology, 13(5):517-524
Miller, Matthew, Deborah Azrael, David Hemenway, and Mary Vriniotis. 2005. “Firearm Storage Practices and Rates of Unintentional Firearm Deaths in the United States.” Accident Analysis and Prevention, 37:661-67.
Olson, Lenora, Frank Huyler, Arthur W. Lynch, Lynne Fullerton, Deborah Werenko, David Sklar, and Ross Zumwalt. 1999. “Guns, Alcohol, and Intimate Partner Violence: The Epidemiology of Female Suicide in New Mexico.” Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 20(3), 121-126.
Siebel, Brian J. 2008. “The Case Against Guns on Campus.” George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal, 18: 319.