BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Universities across Indiana are cautiously eying a state lawmaker’s proposal that would prohibit them from banning guns on campus.
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City, says he submitted the bill on behalf of college students who want to protect themselves. A similar measure introduced last year failed to get a hearing.
This year’s proposal has been assigned to the rules committee, where problematic legislation often languishes without a hearing, but university leaders say they are still concerned about the idea.
“We certainly understand and respect that there is a constitutional right involved here and there are legal ways folks can own and carry guns in Indiana,” Indiana University spokesman Mark Land told The Herald-Times in Bloomington. “But we fundamentally think the university is in the best position to determine what is in the best interest of students, employees and guests on campus.”
IU Bloomington sophomore Crayle Vanest, who is president of IU’s chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, tells WSBT in South Bend that the issue is “personal for a lot of us.”
“If somebody’s going to meet you with deadly force, some people want to be prepared for that. I want to be prepared for that,” she said.
IU South Bend sophomore Bryce LaCosse agreed.
