Campus Safety Magazine Podcast Discusses Open Carry

On Wednesday, Campus Safety Magazine posted a podcast on it's web site where several community college officials discussed a growing enrollment, and there was a brief discussion of open carry on college campuses. Sgt. Dunnell Chaney of Mott Community College's Department of Public Safety in Flint, Michigan discussed what Campus Safety Magazine characterized as:

...challenges with Michigan gun laws that allow open carry on campus.

The Open Carry discussion started at the 595 mark of the podcast (there is a counter that rolls as the audio plays). The Moderator asked for the "top concerns" on the campuses as they started to close out the podcast and she started with Sgt. Chaney. He stated that the top concern in Michigan (note he did not just say his campus) was open carry.

It is such a concern that we brought the prosecutor in within the last couple of weeks for a Q & A session on it. It's a concern because we have nothing in place in Michigan to prevent an individual from walking across our campus with a weapon. So, we're trying to get some type of answer on that or maybe something in place to address that in the near future.

I would note that even if there was something in place, it would not deter a criminal from coming on campus with a firearm if he was intent on harming one or more individuals.

The moderator chimed in and said the magazine did a survey of Campus Safety readers last summer and asked who was for and against students carrying concealed on college campuses. Surprise, surprise, the overwhelming majority of "college respondents" opposed it.

Now, a reasonable person would ask "Have there been any incidents of law abiding gun owners causing mayhem when carrying on a Michigan campuses?" But reason goes out the door in these discussion and all you get are the platitudes from college presidents and some law enforcement officials that "college campuses should be a place where you don't need a gun."