Just passing on the latest water cooler talk I'm hearing at UNT. I did not hear any of this first-hand, but I was told all of it directly by people who themselves heard the administrators speak and whom I trust to relay accurate, truthful information to me.
First, one of our Vice Presidents met 3-4 weeks ago with the leaders (including a friend of mine) of a campus student organization. Among other things, they discussed the campus carry bills. The VP told my friend that she did not know much about the bills but did not want them to pass. (As I've stated before, I wish we had a chapter of the SCCC here to try and educate these administrators who won't bother to educate themselves on the issue). The VP said UNT anticipated their passage and was preparing accordingly. The VP also said that, despite the bills allowing for dormitory regulation/prohibition of handgun storage, UNT did not plan to completely prohibit storage in the dorms should the bills pass. My friend did not understand the legal explanation that followed and could not cite a case for me, but seemed to think there has been some lawsuit somewhere (my friend thought it might have related to apartments, possibly not related to a university campus) regarding prohibitions on gun storage in the place where you live. Basically, as my friend understood (or misunderstood?) it, UNT is afraid of being sued if the bills pass and the dormitories completely prohibit storage of guns by CHL holders in their dorm rooms. The VP told my friend that UNT was looking in to storage options for the dormitories.
Fast forward a couple of weeks. I'm told by another friend (a dormitory director) that at a Housing meeting, administrators told dormitory directors that an option being strongly considered is placing lockers behind the front desks at each dormitory and requiring CHL holders to rent a locker and check in/out their weapon with the front desk whenever they enter/leave the building. As my friend tells me, administrators seem to think this will allow them to COMPLETELY PROHIBIT concealed carry within the dormitory building (which of course would also extend to faculty or staff working in the dorm). When I read the bills back in late January/early February, I understood them to say dorms could regulate STORAGE of weapons in the dorm, but not regulate actual concealed carry. I'd love to hear opinions of others who have read the bills. Also, if I may insert my own opinion, I think it would be very dangerous to have to unconceal one's weapon in plain sight of anyone walking in or out of the building and hand it over to someone at the front desk who might not be familiar with safe weapon handling - many dormitories at UNT employ students at their front desks who are not even old enough to legally purchase a handgun. Plus, would unconcealing one's weapon to hand it over be brandishing?
Back to what my dorm director friend heard - one of the administrators at this meeting said the UNT Housing department was asked by "the Legislature" (my guess is not the whole legislature, but an individual legislator or two who are opposed to campus carry) to complete some sort of financial impact survey indicating how much money passage of the bills would cost. (To my mind, such a legislator would argue, "Look how much money these bills will cost our universities! We can't afford this considering our current state budget crisis/rising tuition rates! etc..."). The administrator said in the meeting that Housing calculated their financial impact in the most expensive manner possible (said another way, when faced with multiple options in determining their cost they always picked the most expensive option - such as outfitting all the dorm front desks with storage lockers and hiring new employees to staff those desks 24/7 instead of less expensive options such as requiring CHL holders to live in a private room and provide their own in-room safe or making one upperclassman dorm or floor reserved for CHL holders). The administrator said in the meeting what Housing's financial impact was estimated to be, but I'm going to have to double check my memory with my friend before posting it.
My friend also stated that, in general, most of the dorm directors were very emotionally and irrationally against passage of the bills (including several individuals who are otherwise publicly pro-2A). Several did say that if the bill passed, they would get CHLs themselves (I guess it didn't click with them that, if the administrators get their way, they wouldn't be able to carry while working in the dorm and would have to secure their own weapon in a locker at the front desk while in the building). My friend said one campus carry supporter tried to rationally explain why CHL holders wouldn't be a threat but was generally ignored in favor of the fear-mongers.
My point exactly!
