PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
Twelve States Mandate People can Carry Guns on College Campuses, 23 states leave it up to individual schools :: 12/03/2018
On Thursday, May 4th, 2017, Georgia became the 12th state that mandates that public universities allow people to carry guns on campus.
Following Arkansas, Georgia was also the second state to pass campus carry in 2017. Ten other states are: Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Tennessee (faculty and staff), Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Unlike Arkansas, Georgia doesn’t mandate additional requirements to carry on campus than in other places: “Georgia requires people to be at least 21 — or at least 18 with proof of basic training or active service in the military — to receive a concealed carry permit. Applicants must provide fingerprints, which are used by state agencies to check for criminal records, and clear an additional federal background check.”
Michigan is in a state of flux right now. The Michigan State Police interpret the law as saying people can carry openly with a permit, but some universities in the state say that the decision should be up to the individual schools. The case is now before the state Supreme Court, but the debate is over whether Michigan should be in the category where guns are mandated to be allowed or whether the decision is up to the individual schools.
In 23 states the decision to ban or allow concealed carry weapons on campuses is made by each college or university individually: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
Fifteen states ban carrying a concealed weapon on a college campus: California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina and Wyoming.
More details on the campus carry debate can be found here.
Our list is very similar to that put out by the National Conference of State Legislatures (updated August 14, 2018), though they list Michigan as a state where people are banned from carrying guns. But as the Detroit Free Press notes:
However, even if the state Supreme Court decides that the Michigan State Police are wrong, the decision would then be left to individual colleges and the totals would be 11 states mandate that carrying be allowed, 24 leave the decision up to the individual colleges, and 15 states ban the practice.
National Conference of State Legislatures also doesn’t include Tennessee in their overall count of concealed carry states because they are focusing only on student concealed carry and Tennessee only allows faculty and staff to carry. By contrast, our focus is on whether colleges are gun-free zones. There is one other qualification on this classification, while the restriction is limited to faculty and staff, it also includes graduate students who teach classes if they are not enrolled in a class. However, it is common for graduate students after their second year not to be taking classes.
concealed handguns allowed on school property, List of States that allow carrying guns on school property, school security
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/12/twelve-states-mandate-people-can-carry-guns-on-college-campuses/
