Los Angeles

BY Monday, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona must decide whether to sign a bill partly lifting her state’s ban on guns on college and university campuses. Gun advocates insist that will make campuses safer by discouraging mass killers and giving students the ability to fight back. Gun control proponents warn the law will lead to more lethal violence.

Both sides are probably wrong. Gun violence at colleges and universities — there are fewer than 20 homicides on campus per year — will probably not be affected much, one way or another. What is really at stake is America’s gun culture.

Colleges and universities have long been gun-free zones. In 1745, Yale adopted a policy punishing any student who “shall keep a gun or pistol, or fire one in the college-yard or college.” Today, most universities, public and private, prohibit anyone but authorized security and law enforcement officers from bringing guns onto campuses. Arizona would join Utah as the only states to require public colleges to permit guns on campus, but Texas and eight other states are considering similar laws.

Many find the idea of students with guns shocking. They fear that undergraduates are too young to handle firearms responsibly and that the presence of guns will lead to the deadly escalation of minor disagreements. Others worry about the volatile mix of guns and alcohol. Glocks don’t belong at a frat party.