BATON ROUGE, La. – A Louisiana state legislator intends to reintroduce legislation banning students from carrying concealed weapons on campus in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings.
The law seeks to remove the conflict of the state law allowing Louisiana residents to have guns in their homes despite bans on firearms at university dorms.
Rep. Richard Gallot (D) first unsuccessfully introduced the gun-free dorm bill to Louisiana Legislature in 2003. He hopes that the recent tragedy on the Virginia Tech campus, in which a gunman took 32 lives and his own, will give traction to his legislation. According to Gallot, the Louisiana Board of Regents, which includes administrators from Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, is backing his proposal.
He plans to reintroduce the bill when the state legislature convenes April 30.
This latest legislation is one of many debates occurring nationwide concerning campus gun control. One of the latest, most notable cases occurred between the state of Utah and the University of Utah. A 2004 Utah state law prohibited universities from restricting licensed concealed firearms on campus, which prompted University of Utah officials to first seek to overturn the law, then later compromise. The Utah legislature ended up not compromising, passing a bill that would not restrict the carrying of concealed weapons on state college and university campuses at all.
