Colleges against campus carry bill sponsored by 21 lawmakers

The Nevada System of Higher Education wants college presidents, not lawmakers, to have the final say on who carries a firearm on campus.

It will be part of the debate on campus carry legislation during the Assembly Committee on Judiciary Thursday.

On the agenda is Assembly Bill 148, which authorizes a person with a concealed carry permit to have weapons on school grounds including college campuses, K-12 schools, day cares and nonsecure parts of airports.

University of Nevada, Reno and Truckee Meadows Community College are against the bill sponsored by Assemblywoman Michele Fiore of Las Vegas and 21 other lawmakers.

"The administration, faculty and students oppose Bill 148," said UNR President Marc Johnson this week, just days after the university's student government passed a resolution opposing it.

"They aren't doing this for us," Johnson said of lawmakers. "They are doing it to us."

Johnson said the university opposes AB 148 for many reasons.

"This a place that encourages people to express controversial thoughts," he said. "We don't want controversy to turn into a gunbattle."

He also said because college campuses face issues with alcohol and drugs, adding a third element is a safety issue.

Recently, the Associated Students of the University of Nevada, the student government, opposed the bill in a resolution.

"We want more tenured professors and lower student-faculty ratios," said UNR student Caden Fabbi. Fabbi is the speaker of the senate and is running for school body president. "In attracting new faculty, this could be looked at as a deterrent to wanting to come here," he said.

"We think sexual assault and campus carry are exclusive issues with a lot of misinformation," he said. "There is this misconception that there is some guy jumping out of a bush and that's not the case," he said.

In 2014 Johnson approved five out of 11 people who applied to carry a concealed weapon at UNR.

He said after an extensive background check by school police, an interview and showing just cause for carrying a weapon, he personally approves or denies a request.

Approval is most often based on a student who may have an outside threat, for example having a restraining order.

"From our perspective, the people that know best are the people that are on our campuses," said Catherine Cortez Masto, who was hired in January as an executive vice chancellor for the System of Higher Education. Cortez Masto was formerly the Nevada attorney general and will represent higher education along with school police at Thursday's meeting.

Campus presidents including Johnson and TMCC President Maria Sheehan, along with Chancellor Dan Klaich and regents, are in Las Vegas during the hearing for a scheduled Board of Regents meeting.

Cortez Masto said the concern about the bill is that a concealed carry permit can be held by a person 21 and older.

She said more than 30 percent of those on campuses are under 21 including those in campus day care centers, and in elementary and high schools.

Bill sponsor Fiore recently made national news commenting on the bill, similar to ones in almost a dozen states, by telling the New York Times that sexual assaults would go down if sexual predators got a "bullet in their head."

Assembly Bill 148

8 a.m. Thursday in room 3138 of the Legislative Building, 401 S. Carson Street, Carson City