| According to the pro-campus conceal-carry site ConcealedCampus.org, only one state restricts public universities from barring the carrying of concealed weapons on their campuses. That state is Utah. Fifteen states, in their view of the wording of the law, allow the university to make their own decision. Those states include Missouri and Texas.
The current Missouri code on the matter says that having a conceal-carry endorsement does not authorize the carrying of concealed weapons at any higher education institution without "the consent of the governing body of the higher education institution"
The current form of HB668 deletes all mentions of higher education institutions in 571.107, section 10. Which appears to put Missouri on the same level as Utah, a fine accomplishment for the advocates of "universal conceal-carry".
The reality of the current system is probably one that bars conceal-carry unless one has a very good reason to be carrying a concealed weapon. The literal reading is that these decisions are being made by the people running a university, as opposed to being stripped of that local control, as proposed in the current HB668.
And this doesn't even get into Article III, Section 23, and how broad "relating to criminal justice" is for a bill subject [and yes, bills with broad subjects have been struck down before]. HB668 might as well be called the Omnibus Gun bill. And the sensible parts of HB668 (such as lowering the age limit for a conceal-carry license to 21) are outnumbered by the gang of bad ideas in this bill. |
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