Utahns support campus bans on guns

Many Utah residents are at odds with the state's highest court over whether concealed guns should be allowed on university campuses, and state leaders may try to appease both sides during this year's Legislature.

Although the Utah Supreme Court struck down a University of Utah gun ban this fall, a new statewide poll shows the majority of 400 respondents think concealed weapons permit holders should not be allowed to carry guns on campus, particularly in residence halls and sports arenas.

The Deseret Morning News/KSL-TV poll shows 64 percent of those surveyed think guns should definitely or probably not be allowed on campus. That's compared to 36 percent who think concealed weapon permit holders should be allowed to carry guns.

The poll, conducted by Dan Jones and Associates on Jan. 2-4, has a 5 percent margin of error.

"There's a long-standing tradition that institutions of higher education have not had guns on campus. I'm not surprised that the general public feels that way," said Kim Wirthlin, vice president for government relations at the U.

The school's five-year court battle ended in September when the Utah Supreme Court struck down the gun ban at the state's flagship university, saying the school had no authority to make laws contrary to state statute.

Although school leaders initially said they would continue with a federal case, U. leaders have now decided to try to work through the Legislature.

Wirthlin is working with a group of higher education leaders and legislators to try to reach a compromise on the issue during the upcoming legislative session, although no formal bills have been written.

Specifically, Wirthlin said she hopes the group can come up with a systemwide ban on guns in areas such as residence halls, sports arenas, classrooms, professors' offices and hospitals.

Those areas are also of special concern to Utah residents surveyed in the Deseret Morning News poll. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed said guns should definitely or probably be prohibited in sports arenas, with classrooms ranking a close second with 80 percent saying guns should not be allowed there.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents said guns should not be allowed in residence halls, and 66 percent said guns should not be allowed anywhere on campus.

"We think in those kinds of areas where you have lots of people and situations that can get out of control that it's safer not to have guns," Wirthlin said. "We'd love to have no weapons on campus, but that's certainly not what the Legislature would like to have happen."

Sen. Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, is heading up the working group to address the gun ban. He said he hopes to have some resolution during this session, although the group has only met once to listen to university concerns.

Waddoups added, however, that he has some questions he needs answered first. If guns are allowed in some areas and not others, for example, the university needs to provide some type of safe gun storage when students enter non-gun areas.

Waddoups said he also wants to see more data on the types of violent crimes that are occurring on Utah's college campuses, as well as exactly what the parameters would be for concealed weapons permit holders.

"We need to make sure it's understood that concealed weapons are concealed and no one knows that they are there unless there's an incident going on," he said.

---

E-mail: estewart@desnews.com

Comments