The American Political Science Association, the professional association for political scientists, has issued the following statement:

The American Political Science Association is deeply concerned about the impact of Texas’s new Campus Carry law on freedom of expression in Texas universities. The law, which was passed earlier this year and takes effect in 2016, allows licensed handgun carriers to bring concealed handguns into buildings on Texas campuses. The APSA is concerned that the Campus Carry law and similar laws in other states introduce serious safety threats on college campuses with a resulting harmful effect on professors and students.

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We, the undersigned faculty of the Department of Sociology, wish to express our objection to the campus-carry legislation set to take effect in August of next year.  We believe that the policy is inconsistent with the core mission of the university – the free and unfettered exchange of ideas – and that it is not supportable by empirical social-scientific evidence.  Our faculty includes several nationally-recognized authorities in criminology and criminal justice who have been active in national public policy for many years.  None of them believes that the campus–carry policy will make our campus safer, or that it is sound public policy informed by empirical research.  Most members of the American Society of Criminology – the national professional organization of criminologists – would agree that more guns at UT does not mean more safety (see the roster of members on the ASC website).

One of our members recently encountered a large sign on the entrance to an Austin-area medical clinic.  It read as follows:  “Pursuant to section 30.06 penal code (trespass by holder of license to carry a concealed handgun), A person licensed under subchapter H, chapter 411, government code (concealed handgun law), may not enter this property with a concealed handgun.”  It seems to us that the reasons it would be unwise to carry weapons into a medical clinic apply with equal force to a college campus, where there are thousands of young people with still-developing minds.  College campuses, in fact, are among the safer environments to be found in the United States.  There are occasional, well-publicized murders or mass murders on campuses, but as hazards, they are statistically rare events.  It makes little sense to jeopardize what are among the most respected institutions in our society (indeed, in the world).  Implementing this legislation would not result in an immediate rash of shootings on campus.  For one thing, there are already guns on campus.  But by encouraging more, perhaps many more, firearms on campus, the legislation will create a risk that is unnecessary and at odds with our efforts as educators.

The issue of guns on campus is particularly important to sociologists because so many of the issues we discuss in the classroom – poverty, crime, race/ethnicity, the family, gender — can arouse strong emotions and sometimes even conflict.  Adding firearms to this mix could be dangerous and could discourage open discussion by students and faculty, the very heart of our enterprise. Continue reading Sociology Department on Campus Carry →

Historians study changes in society and human behavior over time, including changes in the law and justifications for those changes. Thus, we, the undersigned faculty members of the Department of History at UT-Austin, feel it is important for us to comment on the implementation of the law allowing Concealed Handgun License holders to bring guns into our classrooms, offices, dormitories and other buildings. In our view, there is no reasonable justification for permitting concealed guns to be taken into campus buildings. Studies that link the drop in crime rates to the rise of gun ownership have been shown to be deeply flawed and to prove that the presence of guns do not make us safer. Our colleagues at Texas A&M have convincingly shown that CHLs have no impact on crime rates. Gun advocates argue that we should trust responsible gun owners to handle their guns safely in our classrooms, but they ignore the fact that the possible presence of guns will undermine our ability to teach. Students and faculty alike have told us that they will not be comfortable discussing controversial subjects if they think there might be a gun in the room.  The Texas Legislature has imposed this law on our university community against the majority’s very explicit opposition to it. For all these reasons, we strenuously object to this law and to the presence of concealed guns in campus buildings. Continue reading Forty-three Historians have signed this statement against Campus Carry →