FAIRBANKS -- Guns in college dorms. What could possibly go wrong?
Fairbanks Sen. John Coghill has revised his campaign to allow students to "carry concealed firearms while pursuing a higher education in Alaska" with a new version that would require gun-toting students to get state permits.
The Coghill plan goes beyond the measure adopted in Idaho last week in that it would allow guns in dorms. In Idaho, the new law specifically bans guns in residence halls, auditoriums and stadiums because of the heightened danger in those settings.
"After hearing public testimony and the concerns about open carry of firearms, we removed the language that prohibited the Board of Regents from regulating open carry," Coghill's office says about the proposed revision, which is up for a public hearing Monday at 1:30 p.m.
"Though Alaska law does not require a law-abiding adult (21 years of age and older) to have a concealed handgun permit to carry a concealed handgun, we think, that given the uniqueness of the UA system, the requirement to obtain a concealed handgun permit is the least restrictive alternative that allows for the lawful exercise of two fundamental rights," according to Coghill.
For the dorms, gun permit holders would have to show the permit to a "designated university employee" and store the handgun in a lock box. Unlike the Al Gore Social Security lock box, this would be a real lock box, though the bill only defines it as a "device with a locking mechanism that restricts a concealed handgun to persons other than the permit holder." The bill does not say if the lock box has to be inspected by the university.
The ill-advised Coghill plan, promoted as an expression of Second Amendment rights and a way to prevent mass shootings, ignores the threat posed by those who would use firearms carelessly. To suggest that anyone who gets a permit is guaranteed to be careful is no more realistic than believing that everyone with a driver's license can be trusted behind the wheel.
Coghill has yet to tell the public how much it would cost to provide security checkpoints at University of Alaska facilities across the state for the buildings and rooms within buildings where guns would not be allowed.
The University of Alaska opposes the revised bill, as well it should, because it would make college more dangerous. It would also add a serious new layer of responsibility for resident advisors in the dorms, who would have to become firearms monitors.
Those who say that the presence of armed individuals up and down the halls would increase the level of safety are willing to put far more faith in the common sense of people they don't know than I am. There are lots of people in college dorms who are away from home for the first time and are prone to take risks and engage in behavior -- including the abuse of alcohol and other drugs -- that doesn't mix with firearms. It may not be the permit holder that creates the problem, but friends who drop by and open the lockbox.
Anyone who has spent time in a college dorm should recognize that the potential for accidental trouble is greater than the potential for stopping a criminal dead in his tracks. And anyone who thinks that the requirement to use the lockbox would be universally followed is dreaming.
I hope that the Legislature has enough sense to keep guns off campuses and allow the UA Board of Regents to do its job.
Coghill should listen to UA President Pat Gamble about the increase in liability: "Adding many more firearms throughout UA and expecting that the legal standard of care will remain the same, or as some argue, improve, is faulty logic."
Contact Dermot Cole at dermot(at)alaskadispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcole.