Campus-gun debate hot

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: May 2, 2008 - Page: 1A - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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Legalizing permitted handguns on college campuses took its first major step toward approval Thursday after three hours of debate in a legislative committee.

Gun advocates, faculty, students and college police chiefs lined up on all sides of the controversial issue that has arisen in the wake of campus shootings nationwide, including at LSU and Baton Rouge’s Louisiana Technical College.

House Bill 199 by Rep. Ernest Wooten, R-Belle Chasse, was approved in an 11-3 vote in the House Criminal Justice Committee. HB199 next moves to debate in the full House.

Wooten said allowing more responsible people to legally carry guns would serve as a deterrent to killers and not create the “wild, wild west.”

Rep. Barbara Norton, D-Shreveport countered, “It’s supposed to be higher education and higher learning, but it seems to me we’re preparing for war.”

Although most of the students who testified opposed the legislation, Southeastern Louisiana University College Republican Geoffrey Green said he only wants to be able to defend his friends if necessary.

“I feel defenseless,” said Green, who legally must keep a gun in his vehicle on campus. “It’s not fair that we’re not able to defend ourselves.”

“Where I spend most of my time, I am mandated to be unprotected,” LSU law student Elizabeth Cooke added.

Southern University student body president Carey Ash said the focus should be on increasing police staffing, not adding more  guns. Ash warned that changing the law would harm the recruitment of out-of-state students.

“It is worrisome to not only worry about class grades, but who next to you might have a gun,” said Ash, who chairs the Louisiana Council of Student Body Presidents.

Grambling State University student body vice president Steven Jackson said he sees a more “hostile environment” with more guns on campuses.

“We should be talking about textbooks. We should be talking about scholarships,” Jackson said. “We shouldn’t be talking about guns on college campuses.”

To apply for a permit, a Louisiana resident must be at least 21 years old, take some training and not have a felony record.