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Concerns With Concealed Carry On Kansas College Campuses

Storem
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flickr Creative Commons

Kansas colleges and universities are preparing for the summer of 2017. That's when they will have to start allowing students, staff and faculty members to carry concealed guns on campus.

Schools can opt out of this policy, but only if they spend millions of dollars to upgrade security measures.

One survey showed a majority of university employees opposed the idea of allowing guns on campus.

Kansas State University President Kirk Schulz says his primary concern is safety and the fact that no basic gun safety training is required for those wishing to carry concealed weapons.

"If a young man or woman shows up hunting with their mom or their dad or things like that and they show up, and they have basic gun safety, I don't worry about an accidental discharge," he says. "But just because I have the money to go buy a firearm and have no training what so ever, I worry that's where we're gonna get into trouble with accidental discharges, with people walking around with a loaded cocked weapon with the safety off, those types of things."

The survey also found that 54 percent of state university employees are in favor of having their schools spend more money to implement adequate security measures. Only 16 percent of those surveyed think that allowing concealed carry on campus will reduce crime.

J. Schafer is the News Director of Kansas Public Radio at the Univeristy of Kansas. He’s also the Managing Editor of the Kansas Public Radio Network, which provides news and information to other public radio stations in Kansas and Missouri. Before joining KPR in 1995, Schafer spent 10 years as a commercial radio and TV newsman. During his career, he's filed stories for nearly every major radio news network in the nation including ABC, NBC, CBS, AP, UPI, the Mutual Broadcasting System, NPR and the BBC. This seems to impress no one. At KPR, he produces feature stories, interviews and newscast items and edits the work of others. In the fall of 2000, he performed contract work for the U.S. State Department, traveling to central Asia to teach broadcast journalism at newly independent radio stations in the former Soviet Union. One of his passions is Kansas; learning about and promoting the state’s rich heritage, people and accomplishments. Schafer gives presentations about Kansas to various organizations around the state to remind residents about our awesome history and incredible people. A native of Great Bend, he studied journalism and mass communications at Barton County Community College and at the University of Kansas. He was also an exchange student to Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany. The “J.” in J. Schafer stands for Jeremy, but he doesn’t really care for that name. He also enjoys the pretentiousness of using just a single initial for a first name!