Students divided over Campus Carry legislation from MWSU Campus Watch on Vimeo.

“It was kind of inevitable because this is Texas. I grew up around guns, so it doesn’t really bother me or concern me. My dad told me pretty much as soon as I turned 12 and got my first gun that I was going to have a concealed carry license when I turn 21, so it’s kind of an inevitability in my opinion,” said Rachel Wilson, a junior in art.

Others like graduate students Ryan Brumbelow and Clint Wagoner said they have mixed feelings about Campus Carry.

Brumbelow, an English and history graduate student, said, “It could be potentially problematic, not because it is necessarily a bad thing to have protection but because when you have an active shooter and you have a bunch of people running around with weapons who may not know who the active shooter is or not might have potential for multiple fatalities that wouldn’t have happened if they had just taken shelter and let police handle it.”

Wagoner, a graduate student in English, said, “Well normally I’d say it’s a good thing but because I’ll start teaching next semester, I’m a little more worried about it. We’ve already started getting some informational packets about how you’re supposed to deal with a classroom where you might have a concealed gun in. We’re actually supposed to be a little bit reserved and not push questions as hard. So from a teaching perspective I don’t really care for it because the school wanting to make sure that they aren’t held liable for anything is pushing on teachers to not push as hard or get as much from their students.”

There are also those like athletic training junior Tyteanah Cravin who are worried about the effects of the new gun law.

Cravin said, “Honestly I’m hoping it to be a good thing but I kind of feel like its going to be a bad thing just because of the previous years here we have had bomb threats, campus shooting threats and I’m a little scared.”

Campus Carry Task Force Chair Laura Fidelie said certain areas on campus will remain gun-free zones, such as the Vinson Health Center, MSU Counseling Center and Hardin Administrative Building.

READ MORE

• Task force to draft campus carry policy
• Guns should be allowed everywhere on campus
• Campus carry soon to be reality
• 15 students discuss guns on campus at forum
• Full text of Senate Bill 11

 Additonal reporting by Chris Marten and Dayton Chambers