Senate Bill 10 Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Shepherd University Invites Discussion On Response To Campus Carry Law

Shepherd University in the Eastern Panhandle is encouraging conversations with its students and faculty on how to deal with a new state law allowing concealed weapons on campus.

Senate Bill 10, popularly known as the campus carry bill, takes effect July 1, 2024.

As part of the school’s preparations, a closed-door discussion was organized where the school’s community could discuss their thoughts or concerns.

The Stubblefield Institute, an organization that encourages political discussion on campus, helped organize a panel made up of faculty, students, campus police and other school officials.

Executive Director Ashley Horst said it’s a way to encourage open dialogue without debates turning into arguments.

“It’s intimidating to a lot of people who might have questions about the legislation or really about any controversial topic,” Horst said. “So our role at the Institute is to foster that conversation.”

The panel was organized in tandem with the creation of a campus task force. It’s meant to take in input from groups like these to help better prevent shootings from happening on campus.

“We knew that this was going to be a sensitive topic on campus,” Horst said. “And we knew that we could be of assistance in facilitating these conversations.”

Many of the panelists moderating the event are part of this task force. That includes Joshua Stout, assistant professor at the school’s department of sociology, criminology and criminal justice. He helped discuss some of the research on policies across the nation in states that had already enacted campus carry laws, and how that could inform campus decisions moving forward.

“We’re specifically looking at the ways that we can help to ensure that there isn’t an increase in violence on campus, or that there isn’t an increase in suicide or sexual assault,” Stout said.

Stout said the current research on these laws in states that have enacted them has shown neither an increase nor decrease in violent crime on campuses. But he also pointed out criminology research at large does point to an increase of violent crimes alongside more accessibility to firearms.

“It’s kind of that next logical step, right?” Stout said. “Even though there hasn’t been enough longitudinal data on college campuses, if we look at criminology and criminal justice research in general, it’s not hard to kind of make that connection.”

Fellow panelist and Director of Counseling Services Wendy Baracka is concerned about the law from a mental health perspective. An increase of firearms on campus could lead to more suicides among students struggling with mental health problems.

“Self-directed violence or suicide risk is something that is very prevalent on college campuses,” Baracka said. “And there’s a direct connection between access to lethal means and the potential for completed suicides.”

Others in attendance were concerned with the logistics of the new law. Money for new facilities to accommodate things like gun storage is an issue, but there’s also concerns about how safety guidelines would be implemented from students opposed to the new law, like Allison Sawicki.

“We were talking about where the guns are going to be stored,” Sawicki said. “If our roommates were gonna know [if a roommate was carrying], or do the police officers on campus have to know that that person is carrying?”

Other students in support of the law, like Genevieve Blodgett, are worried about separation in the dorms. One idea that was floated during talks was only allowing one residence hall to have firearm storage.

“We’re concerned that they might give us the worst dorm or that they may not give proper funding to put storage facilities everywhere, so that even though we’re allowed to carry, we’re unable to carry in all the buildings where people are populated,” Blodgett said.

Blodgett and Sawicki are roommates and friends with differing views on campus carry. Both of them are engaged in the process to make sure their peers can feel at ease.

“We want to make sure that everyone feels safe and comfortable with the bill,” Blodgett said. “Both sides, just making sure that everyone realizes what it entails and how to keep everyone safe while having some of these measures in place.”

There are plans to have further discussions about how the school will implement campus safety guidelines before the law goes into place. That includes a similar discussion when new students arrive in the fall. Stout is also planning on creating surveys and focus groups for his research on campus.

Until then, the campus carry task force at Shepherd University is looking at ways to build trust and community as preventative measures so potential incidents of gun violence won’t happen.

“We’re all going to have more of that social trust in one another,” Stout said. “But we’ll also have that social capital and resources that if something is of concern, we already have that established relationship and rapport, where we can talk with each other.”

W.Va. Universities, Colleges Preparing For Campus Carry Law

After years of failed attempts, Senate Bill 10, the Campus Self-Defense Act, also known as Campus Carry, passed in the recently completed legislative session.

After years of failed attempts, Senate Bill 10, the Campus Self-Defense Act, also known as Campus Carry, passed in the recently completed legislative session. The new law authorized the concealed carry of firearms in certain areas of college and university campuses. It takes effect July 1, 2024.

West Virginia’s institutions of higher education largely opposed campus carry. Campus leaders at big and small schools said they’ll need that much time to prepare.

Marshall University’s enrollment is a little more than 13,000. In the Eastern Panhandle, Shepherd University has just over 3,000 students. Both schools have campus carry committees and task forces that include administration, faculty, staff and students. Marshall Director of Public Safety Jim Terry said there are a wide variety of policy decisions on the table.

“We have a small group of senior leadership,” Terry said. “We’ve put together an action learning team made up of constituents from every facet of the university to go out and look at best practice, best policy.”

Holly Morgan Frye, vice president for Student Affairs, and the director of Community Relations at Shepherd University, said her school’s campus carry task force also includes attorneys and members of the residence life team.

Both schools now allow no firearms on campus. SB10 will permit concealed carry in classrooms and public areas, but not in stadiums and day care facilities. Frye said Shepherd’s key concern highlights student mental health and suicide issues.

“Everybody knows that the mental health issues on a college campus are on an increase,” Frye said. “We are getting ready to hire a fourth counselor. We have an enrollment of a little more than 3,000, and we feel that it’s critical that we have that fourth counselor because of the mental health issues.”

Marshall senior Abbey McBrayer said the chilling, anxious effect of COVID-19 still lingers on campus. She said campus carry could make it worse.

“A lot of people my age still feel uncomfortable being out on campus and going to like classrooms and things like that,” McBrayer said. “I think knowing that somebody could just have a gun in a classroom is kind of going to add to that. And then I mean, our counseling services are already kind of bogged down.”

Frye said she worries whether campus carry will affect enrollment for border schools like Shepherd. She believes the costs of ensuring campus safety will demand a larger police force.

Terry said the initial estimate for Marshall’s firearm security could reach $400,000, while Frye said the Shepherd cost could be several times that. Both point to residence halls, where guns are not allowed in dorm rooms, but are allowed in lunch rooms and lounges.

“I think that we’re going to have to be providing safes in order for any of our residential students who choose to carry to be able to lock those guns away when they are in their residential rooms,” Frye said. “We have already heard from our residential assistants with concerns about how they will manage that. For example, what will they do if they see somebody who has a gun? What will be the process?”

Terry said the school will have to create a new firearms policy when secondary school age visitors use campus facilities and with campus buildings jointly owned by public and private entities. He said there are no provisions in the law made for violation of campus carry policies, civil or criminal.

“We’re going to have to get with the county prosecutor,” Terry said. “There are no criminal statutes and there are no penalties attached to that code. If a person sees half a holster sticking out from underneath a jacket, and they call it in, he’s not violated the law. But we have nothing in place for a shirt raising up or something like that.”

Marshall freshman Jonathan Willman agreed with all the safeguards and security measures needed. However, he sees campus carry as a defensive necessity.

“I plan to carry myself when I get my concealed carry license,” Willman said. “We aren’t the people you have to worry about, it’s the people that break the laws. The bill allows kids to be able to defend themselves from people like that, who are already breaking the law and shooting up schools and campuses.”

Justice Signs Senate Bill 10, The Campus Carry Act

Proponents say this law strengthens Second Amendment protections in West Virginia. But SB10 comes with many questions about implementation and concerns about the limitations on the new self-defense safeguards coming into place.

Gov. Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 10, The Campus Self-Defense Act, into law on Wednesday.

The new law authorizes the carrying of concealed pistols or revolvers under certain circumstances and in certain areas on the grounds of an institution of higher education. It prohibits firearms in numerous campus settings including stadiums, on-campus daycare, individual office settings, disciplinary hearings, and dormitory rooms, with concealed carry allowed in dorm public rooms like study halls and lounges

National Rifle Association State Legislative Action Director Art Thomm was the bill signing event host, delivering a very pointed introduction.

“This is a big day not only for West Virginians, but for law-abiding gun owners across the country who may choose West Virginia for employment or higher education,” Thomm said. “Threats to personal safety don’t disappear once you step on campus. Criminals do not abide by gun free zones. We have the most pro-gun governor West Virginia has seen in a very long time.”

West Virginia Citizens Defense league members also packed the room. The governor told them he hoped this would not be the only answer to solving the campus shooting crisis.

“But absolutely, without a question when that situation happens, if we have gun-free areas, to where there’s no way we can defend ourselves, then it seems like those are the targets that are targeted many, many, many times,” Justice said.

Two of the 88 republicans in the House voted against Senate Bill 10, Speaker Roger Hanshaw and Del. Erikka Storch, R-Ohio. Storch said she made her decision by listening to her constituents and her family.

“I have a 25, 23 and 17 year old and like I said, it was really outreach from my constituents. Nobody really thought it was going to do anything to advance the state,” Storch said. “I don’t think people are looking at West Virginia for their higher education opportunities on the basis of if they can bring guns, if they can’t bring guns, it just seems unnecessary. And we’re just, I don’t want to say necessarily catering to the gun lobby but that was another issue that they wanted to get across the finish line.”

Following the signing, West Virginia University President Gordon Gee, one of many state campus leaders opposed to campus carry, said in a statement he will create a new Campus Safety Group which will make recommendations relating to overall campus safety.

“I know this legislation leaves many feeling uncomfortable and brings forward many questions. Some may be unsure of their safety and well-being. Others may feel relief. We all have several questions as to how this will be implemented on our campuses,” Gee said in the statement. “We have opposed this type of legislation many times in recent years, firmly believing that local control is the best path forward. We reiterated this to lawmakers on multiple occasions again this year. However, now that this bill has been signed into law, we must come together as a community and work through the implications as it relates to the overall safety of our campuses.”

Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said there will be a need to increase monitoring and counseling on campuses, given concerns over mounting student mental health and suicide issues.

“They’re going to have to figure out ways and get resources which they might have to come to us for, for mental health,” Hornbuckle said. “Making sure that we are protecting each and every student, and we’re addressing things before they ever get to a tragic standpoint.”

Testimony in committee and on the House floor noted it would cost WVU about $300,000 to fund campus carry security requirements even more for smaller colleges and universities. Storch said there was no funding in the bill.

“We’re not increasing their budget line items to give them any more money to deal with, to keep out of the safe places where guns aren’t permitted, to come up with the devices for them to secure them in their dorm rooms,” Storch said.

Just before putting pen to paper, Justice said the Campus Self-Defense Act evens a potentially deadly playing field.

“Does anybody here not think that has a brain in your head, that just because we don’t have this campus carry, that people can’t bring guns on our campuses,” Justice said. “I mean, for crying out loud, the doors are wide open. This is just saying the law-abiding people have a right to be able to carry if they choose to do so.”

West Virginia joins 11 states in allowing campus carry. The law goes into effect on July 1, 2024.

11th Hour Campus Carry Amendments Fail

Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, proposed an amendment that would give campuses a housing option for students who do not want those with firearms living in the building.

Opponents of the contentious Senate Bill 10, the Campus Self-Defense Bill, which would allow the concealed carry of firearms on college campuses (with limitations), tried to get two 11th hour exemption amendments passed.

Resigned to the fact that the campus carry bill has overwhelming legislative support, Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, proposed an amendment that would give campuses a housing option for students who do not want those with firearms living in the building.

“There are some students, they’re going to say no, we don’t want to go to West Virginia, Marshall, Concord, Fairmont. So, we’re going to work with our legislature, and we’re going to give you reasonable living accommodations too,” Hornbuckle said. “We’re not going to lose any money from tuition by turning students away. Matter of fact, we’re going to be more marketable. We’re going to be able to go out across the country and we’re going to be able to appease every single student. If you’re somebody who wants to live with firearms in your residence halls, we will allow you to do that. If you’re the student that just doesn’t feel right. Well, we will make reasonable accommodations.”

Del. Moore Capito, R- Kanawha, said campuses already had that option under the proposed law and Hornbuckle’s amendment failed.

Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, proposed an amendment striking the provisional carry permit which would not allow 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds to have a gun on campus, saying those students had not gained the maturity to carry firearms.

“Suicide among teenagers is an issue in West Virginia, and one that I think we need to pay attention to and this bill is relevant to this amendment, because it’s tough for kids who are going to school for the first time,” Hansen said. “Seventeen-year-olds, 18-year-olds, so many kids on campus haven’t spent a substantial amount of time away from home before. They’re meeting new people from different walks of life, they may or may not agree with them. They’re under a lot of stress, trying to study and get good grades. And there’s a mental health crisis at our universities.”

Del. Bill Ridenhour, R-Jefferson, a former Marine, said he put his life and trust in the hands of many 18- and 19-year-olds and they should have the legal right for concealed carry.

Hansen said Marine firearms training was vastly different from student firearms training but his amendment was also defeated.

Senate Bill 10 comes up for third reading Tuesday in the House.

Opposition Dominates Public Debate On Campus Carry Bill

Will allowing the concealed carry of firearms on campus add more protection or create more danger?

This is a developing story and may be updated.

This story was updated on Feb 15, 2023 at 3:58 pm

With another university campus mass shooting earlier this week, legislative and public debate over the Campus Self-Defense Act has fostered heightened emotion from both sides. Will allowing the concealed carry of firearms on a West Virginia campus add more protection or create more danger?

The House Judiciary Committee held a Wednesday morning, one-hour public hearing on Senate Bill 10, commonly known as the campus carry bill. It would allow college students, faculty and staff to carry concealed weapons on all but a few restricted areas on college campuses. There were 37 people opposed to the bill and only two speaking in support of campus carry. Each speaker had one minute.

Chris White, a Marshall University history professor, and former Marine infantryman, said the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, must come with safety controls this bill does not offer.

“There are many, many months worth of training that military and police officers have to go through before they are able to earn that second amendment right and carry those weapons in public,” White said. “Every single moment in which a weapon is in the hands of a soldier or a police officer is controlled. None of those safety controls will be imposed on our students or anybody else who comes on to campus. Marshall University, WVU, the other universities, have expressed that they are opposed to this bill. I am not going to say that this is going to increase actual violence on campus. It might. But what I do know is they’re going to increase accidental discharges.”

Speaking in favor of the Campus Self-Defense Act, Art Thomm said he represented the National Rifle Association. He said Michigan college students killed earlier this week might be alive if campus carry was allowed.

“I live here, my college age sons live here, my wife and my young stepdaughter live here. Our loved ones deserve the right to defend themselves from a deadly attack in a gun free zone without having to make the choice of employment, education or their life,” Thomm said. “As already referenced, there was a shooting just this week where a lunatic went on a college campus in Michigan, a place where it was illegal under statute to carry a firearm and shot eight students killing three of them.”

After the public hearing, Democratic lawmakers from the Morgantown area joined West Virginia University students and staff in solidarity against campus carry. Del. Evan Hansen, D-Monongalia, boiled down much of the sentiment expressed in the public hearing.

“Their concerns include things like an increase in assaults and sexual assaults,” Hansen said. “How this would interact with mental health and suicide on campus, the possibility of accidental discharges, the drinking and drug use on campus and how bringing guns into that equation might cause more harm than good. People also mentioned issues with recruitment and retention of faculty, staff and students.”

WVU faculty member Maria Perez said some students taught her to appreciate firearms used for hunting, but others expressed the fear of a high number of military veteran suicides by handgun having parallels to college students.

“His uncle was a lawful firearms owner, he had no mental illness antecedent, his dog had died and then he got into a fight with his wife and shortly after he shot himself and died,” Perez said. “It was a moment of crisis. This combined with the availability of a firearm creates conditions that result in the sudden and tragic end of a life.”

Lawmakers who support campus carry, like Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said the proposal extends the constitutional Second Amendment rights to college campuses.

“You and I can carry a firearm, as is our right, in any portion of that facility that it’s not prohibited in. This just affords that same right and opportunity to the students and faculty,” Steele said. “You can have an 18-year-old person who hasn’t matriculated at school, legally carrying a firearm. You shouldn’t have to surrender your firearms rights just because you become employed at the university or college or become matriculated and become a student.”

Marshall University, West Virginia University, Concord University and West Virginia State University are among state universities that have voiced their opposition to campus carry.

The bill is expected to be considered in the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday afternoon for more debate.

Update

After more than two hours of emotional debate and testimony in the House Judiciary Committee, Senate Bill 10, the Campus Self-Defense Act was sent to the house floor with the recommendation that it do pass.

Senate Passes Campus Carry Law

Senate Bill 10 allows holders of concealed handgun permits to carry concealed on all of the state’s higher education campuses, regardless of existing restrictions.

The bill passed the Senate 29 – 4. Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, joined the three Senate Democrats in voting against the bill.

The bill advanced quickly through the Senate, passing out of the Judiciary Committee less than a week ago, on Jan. 18.

Judiciary Chair Sen. Charles Trump, R-Morgan, took a moment to clarify what he called misinformation about the bill that had disseminated in the past week.

“This authority applies only to people who have a valid concealed carry permit, or the 18 year old, provisional permit we created for people between 18 and 21,” Trump said.

“In other words, it requires everyone to undergo training, they have to have firearms training, because you have to have that to get the permit. This does not apply to, we created what has been referred to as constitutional carry or a permitless carry a few years ago, where any adult citizen in West Virginia, who has legal right to own and possess a firearm can carry. The provisions of this bill do not apply in that context.”

Trump also laid out the various exceptions from campus carry in the bill including campus daycares, events with more than 1000 spectators and rooms where disciplinary hearings are being held.

In a repeat of the committee meeting, Sen. Mike Caputo, D-Marion, stood in opposition of the bill.

“I rise in opposition to this, Mr. President, I think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a bad idea to basically encourage folks to carry weapons on campus,” Caputo said. “I just don’t know why we would want to put our youth in an atmosphere such as that. If you look at who doesn’t like this bill, domestic violence advocates hate it. The WVU student government passed a proclamation saying they didn’t want it. I heard from the faculty senate that said they should leave it up to the institutions.”

Later in the floor debate Sen. Mike Azinger, R-Wood, read a statement from his son and WVU SGA Senator Tommy Azinger expressing his support for the bill. Tommy was joined by At-Large Senator Christian Miller in his dissent from the student government’s proclamation.

Caputo stated that the bill functionally allowed the gun lobby to control the rules and regulations of higher education facilities in West Virginia.

Marshall University and West Virginia University released a joint statement against the bill shortly after the committee meeting last week, but Caputo also cited comments from Concord University, West Virginia State, and Shepherd University.

“They also said, if enacted, this legislation would require our universities to make significant new investments in our public safety and security operations to include the addition of new law enforcement personnel, equipment and infrastructure to ensure compliance with the intent of this legislation, and to safeguard the security of our campus,” Caputo said. “They estimate that it could cost state colleges and universities up to $11.6 million, which we did not provide, in this piece of legislation, as under-resourced institutions that continue to adapt to the economic challenges of the COVID 19 pandemic. We simply do not have the financial resources to implement and administer the requirements of Senate Bill 10.”

The bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Rupie Phillips, R-Logan, pointed out 11 other states have already passed campus carry laws, and he wants West Virginia to be the 12th.

Phillips said another reason to pass campus carry was to help stop sexual assaults on campus. He said the House of Delegates is eager to receive Senate Bill 10.

The bill now goes to the House of Delegates for their consideration.