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   The Montana Legislature held its first hearing on a bill that   
   allows gun owners in the state to carry concealed firearms for   
   self-defense, including on college campuses.   
      
   Introduced by Joliet Republican, Seth Berglee, the bill would   
   designate places where people in Montana can carry firearms and   
   areas in which there are exceptions.   
      
   Republicans are hopeful that the bill will be signed into law   
   this year. “If everybody knows college campuses are gun-free   
   zones, then that’s just an open target” Republican Barry Usher   
   argued during the hearing on Wednesday, adding that the latest   
   measure would make the state safer by doing away with “gun-free   
   zones.”   
      
   If the bill is approved, Montana would join states such as   
   Colorado and Utah that permit concealed weapons to be carried at   
   public colleges.   
      
   Provisions of the Bill   
   The bill prohibits the Montana Board of Regents, the state   
   university system, from prohibiting concealed firearms on   
   college campuses.   
      
   Additionally, students would no longer need a permit to possess   
   a firearm in a dormitory or carry one at events where alcohol is   
   consumed. However, guns not in immediate possession of the   
   permit holder would need to be locked.   
      
   The bill also seeks to expand the number of places where   
   firearms are allowed for permit holders, including banks and the   
   Capitol.   
      
   ‘Bill Wasn’t Necessary’   
   Although a similar guns-on-campus proposal didn’t make the cut   
   in the state legislature in 2015, this time the bill received   
   large scale support from gun rights advocates and state law   
   enforcement officials.   
      
   Despite multiple incidents of gun violence on campuses in recent   
   years provoking students to favor stricter gun laws, Berglee   
   defended the bill by saying that students shouldn’t sacrifice   
   one of their fundamental constitutional rights — the right to   
   own and carry a firearm — when they return to campus.   
      
      
   Opponents however are not convinced. One of them, the Montana   
   Board of Regents, said the move would jeopardize safety on   
   campus and would risk increasing the state’s already steep   
   suicide rate.   
      
   Kevin McRae, deputy commissioner of higher education, argued   
   states that have allowed guns on campus have had to enforce more   
   restrictions on campus, showing the bill isn’t necessary.   
      
   What About Other States?   
   After the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech and another in   
   2008 at Northern Illinois University, the American Legislative   
   Exchange Council adopted a bill to allow guns on college   
   campuses. The push has accelerated — snowballing into a movement   
   — so much so that 10 states now permit concealed weapons on   
   campus in some form.   
      
   However, several states that passed legislation to allow guns on   
   campus are also struggling to deal with the consequences,   
   including lawsuits and hefty costs.   
      
   In 2006, the Utah Supreme Court struck down a gun ban at the   
   University of Utah, stating the university’s decision ran   
   counter to state law. More recently, in Texas, a guns-on-campus   
   bill that passed in 2015 has forced intimidated faculty members   
   to abandon their positions while Florida’s community colleges   
   estimated they would need nearly $74 million to prepare for the   
   state’s gun policy.   
      
   https://thecollegepost.com/montana-guns-on-campus/   
      
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