Study shows CHL's don't increase or decrease crime
Starting next August, Texas public university students 21 and older who have a concealed handgun license will be able to carry inside campus buildings instead of just outside.
The new law gives schools a little leeway to figure out how to implement this.
Last week, UT Professor Bryan Jones and others from the group "Gun Free UT" called on President Gregory Fenves to implement the most restrictive campus carry policy possible -- no guns in classrooms or offices.
"I'm a gun owner. There's no place on campus for this because of our free speech rights, please," said professor Jones.
This week, ahead of the second campus carry forum at UT, Nicole Greene with Moms Demand Action feels the same way.
"I think that it's really easy to wonder when somebody's digging into their bag...and be scared of what it is they're pulling out. Are they pulling out their phone? Are they pulling out their pen? Or are they pulling out their gun?" Greene said.
Greene is a UT alum. Now she's thinking ahead to when her two kids will be in college.
"There are at times some contentious moments on campus. Maybe a student is upset about a grade. Maybe there's a hot discussion happening in a classroom and I would feel concerned and I would feel really concerned for my children," Greene said.
CHL instructor and talk radio host Michael Cargill recalls the catalyst for his feelings on gun rights -- his Grandmother who had decided to go back to school to become a nurse, was attacked on a college campus.
"While my Grandmother was traveling from a college library sitting at a bus stop waiting for a bus to come, a guy came along, mugged her, and raped her. And I decided at that point, I would make sure that every female in my family had the tools to protect themselves," Cargill said.
According to new research from Texas A&M, county-level data taken from 4 CHL states: Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Texas has shown CHL licensing rates haven't had either a significant negative or positive effect on crime rates.
"We don't see any evidence that shows that more guns equals less crime...and you know we'll continue working to make sure there are places that are gun free, places of learning and growth and sensitive areas like college campuses," Greene said.
"That study just says 'Hey there's no way that they can prove that concealed handgun licenses actually reduce crime.' There's no way they can say 'Hey crime increases!' You know there's really no change but what matters is that people want to get a concealed handgun license so that they can go into places that they can protect themselves. We need to get rid of no gun zones," Cargill said.