A top Texas private university opts out of 'campus carry' gun law

Source: Reuters

A top Texas private university opts out of 'campus carry' gun law
Reuters
By Jon Herskovitz
3 hours ago

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Southern Methodist University, one of the top private colleges in Texas, on Friday said it would opt out of state law due to go into effect next year that allows people with licenses for concealed handguns to bring them on campus.

SMU students, faculty and staff by a wide margin said they wanted to keep the campus in Dallas weapons free, University President R. Gerald Turner said in a statement, which heavily weighed into his and the Board of Trustees' decision not to participate in the so-called "campus carry" law.

"The results were overwhelmingly in favor of SMU remaining weapons free when the law goes into effect," he said in a statement.

But public universities will be required to allow concealed handgun permit holders 21 and over to carry handguns when the law takes effect on Aug. 1, 2016. This falls on the 50th anniversary of one of the deadliest U.S. gun incidents on a campus when Charles Whitman killed 16 people by firing from a perch atop the University of Texas at Austin campus' clock tower.

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