The Kentucky General Assembly is waiting for the governor to sign or veto a number of bills from the session. One bill that will not be going to the governor’s desk is one that would have allowed those 21 and over to conceal carry weapons on college campuses.
Education leaders across Kentucky opposed the bill. Eastern Kentucky University president David McFaddin told WEKU that schools need to be aware of other issues on campus, like the student mental health crisis.
“When you think about students in that 18 to 22 range, and obviously you have to be 21 to carry, this was a carry-conceal type of bill, but I think there is a lot of conversations about what are the protocols and the procedures by which we would engage in this and think about making campuses more safe.”
President McFaddin said he does not think this issue will go away.
“I think there have been 12 or 13 states who adopted campus carry bills in some form or fashion, I think West Virginia was the most recent to do so. Lots of exemptions in there for a lot of different areas, and at some point, when you start exempting all of those large public areas or areas where instruction is going on, or where student grievances are going on, I think we start to say “does it really fit on a campus?”
President McFaddin said he expects the topic to be brought up during talks with other university leaders over the summer.
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