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Bill Vetoed Last Year to Allow Guns on College and University Campuses Back in Play

Arizona Public Radio's Howard Fischer reports there are some changes designed to make the bill more acceptable to the governor.

In vetoing last year's version, Jan Brewer said there were too many loopholes and problems. So Sen. Ron Gould has scaled back the proposal. One change is that only those who have a state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon could bring their guns onto campus.

"So theoretically you could ask somebody to present their permit. And the board of regents has the ability to ban guns in the classroom," Gould said. "So anybody, if it's a banned classroom, banned building, banned classroom, then anybody with a weapon in it is violating the law."

But University of Arizona Police Chief Anthony Daykin said neither restriction is meaningful. He said once upon a time, getting a permit to carry a concealed weapon implied some kind of training. Daykin said the law has been gutted so that someone can get a CCW permit simply by attending a hunter safety class. And Daykin said the ability to declare buildings to be gun free requires the university to provide lockers in each building.

"It'd be very difficult to monitor lockers at over 100 buildings, which then becomes an issue of security," Daykin said.

Daykin said it would be obvious to anyone that locked lockers contain loaded weapons which would make them targets for thieves. No date has been set for a hearing. For Arizona Public Radio this is Howard Fischer.