Concealed handguns should not be allowed on college campuses, said a large majority of students in a recent study, and they would not feel safer if students and faculty carried weapons. The Cleveland Plain Dealer said 78 percent of 1,649 students surveyed at 15 public colleges in the Midwest do not support concealed carry handguns on campus. The same percentage said they would not obtain a permit to carry a handgun on campus if it were legal, according to the study published in the Journal of American College Health.
Ohio is among 49 states that have concealed carry weapons laws and also among 22 states that ban carrying a concealed weapon on a college campus, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Concealed carry on campuses has been a contentious issue since a senior at Virginia Tech shot and killed 32 students and faculty members and wounded 17 others in April 2007.