Guns on campus? Hundreds of students rally at UNR

Hundreds of students staged a rally at the University of Nevada, Reno Wednesday over legislation that would allow guns on university campuses.

Protesters demanded that Nevada lawmakers oppose AB 148, sponsored by Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R-Las Vegas. The proposal passed a committee vote last Wednesday. It still has not gone before the full Assembly and Senate.

If passed, it would allow a person with a concealed carry permit to have weapons in public buildings such as unsecured areas in airports and on school grounds. That includes colleges, K-12 schools and day cares.

At the rally, speakers included UNR professors, student leaders and state Sen. Ruben Kihuen, D-Las Vegas. Meanwhile, some rallied in support of the bill, saying guns on campus would promote school safety and self-defense.

Here are four arguments expressed during the rally on Wednesday:

Against: Women won't be made safer by having guns on campus

Bill sponsor Fiore recently made national news when she told New York Times that campus sexual assaults would plummet if sexual predators got a "bullet in their head." That remark sparked a debate from students on whether guns would protect women from assaults on campus.

For Madeleine Poore, the answer is no.

"Survivors' stories (are) being hijacked and used as a reason for getting guns on our campus when we know that guns don't make women safer," said Poore, 22, a UNR senior studying public relations and women studies. "When there's a gun in the household, a woman's likelihood of being murdered by that gun skyrockets."

Poore spoke on the topic at Wednesday's event as the president of VOX (Voices for Planned Parenthood), a group that advocates for sex education, protection of sexual assault victims and women's rights. Putting guns in students' hands means putting the responsibility on the assault victim rather than the perpetrator, she said.

"Nevada has the eighth highest rank of women being murdered by firearms," Poore said. "So using this, 'Oh this will make women safer having guns on our campus,' you know that's just not true.

"It also perpetuates the idea of the rapist being a stranger in a bush, and we know that 70 percent of sexual assaults that occur, the person knows the rapist," she said. "You're not going to shoot your co-worker."

For: Concealed weapons could help during an active shooter situation

Greg Ross, 25, a mechanical engineering graduate student, stood in the back of the crowed holding a sign that read: 'Campus Carry saves lives."

"I feel like if the right person is armed at the right time, it could save a lot of lives during a mass shooting," Ross said, who is also a lab instructor.

"I don't see why the university environment is different than any other place," he said.

Ross has a concealed carry permit and owns a gun.

"In a order to carry a concealed firearm, you have to do eight hours of training," he said. "It doesn't take a lot to learn to carry a gun."

Against: There's already a process to allow guns on campus.

Many said they believe the university's process for allowing guns on campus is enough.

In 2014, five out of the 11 people who applied to carry a concealed weapon at UNR were approved by UNR President Marc Johnson.

Approval is most often based on a student who may have an outside threat. For example, they may have a restraining order against someone.

"This is a place of learning and freedom of expression, and this is place for ideas that are controversial, and there's high energy and intensity," Poore said. "Guns don't make that a safe space for everyone to express those opinions."

Against: Guns on campus could create racial division

The ideology used to push AB 148 could spur racial problems on campus and with law enforcement.

That's the concern Escenthio Marigny Jr., 25, said when he spoke at the rally Wednesday. Marigny, president of the Reno Justice Coalition, is a women studies student at the university.

"We know that people of color and women are treated differently when they defend themselves as opposed to white men," Marigny said to the hundreds at the rally. "We need it to stop."

Marigny said he believes the state should find other ways to deal with criminal acts "other than shooting them down" and address why people commit crimes.

"I'm not against people having guns, but I am against the ideology that they utilize to bring it to campus," he said.