Ohio House Bill 48 – Opponent Testimony
Andy Pelosi
June 10, 2015
Chairman Maag and members of the State Government Committee. Thank you for the opportunity
to submit written testimony in opposition to HB 48. My name is Andy Pelosi and I am the
executive director of The Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus (The Campaign), a 501 c3
organization based in New York State. The Campaign includes over 420 colleges and universities
in 42 statesi (including Ohio) who support policies that prohibit the carrying of concealed
weapons on college and university campuses.
We will confine our comments on HB 48 to the areas of why we believe that higher institutions
should not take steps to allow weapons to be carried on campus.
Background
The overwhelming majority of the more than 4,400 colleges and universities in the United States
prohibit the carrying of firearms on their campuses. These gun-free policies have helped to make
our post-secondary education institutions some of the safest places in the country.
Despite the success of these gun-free policies, following the mass shootings at Virginia Tech in
2007 (32 students and faculty killed and 15 wounded) and Northern Illinois University in 2008 (5
students killed and 16 wounded), many legislatures are calling for state legislation that would
force colleges and universities to allow concealed handguns on campus. In fact, in 2015, fifteen
state legislatures introduced legislation that would change current law and force colleges and
universities to permit loaded, concealed handguns on campus. As of today, one state has sent a bill
to the Governor (Texas) one state has a bill pending (Ohio) and the remaining 13 states declined
to move the legislation forward.ii
The Case Against Allowing Guns on Campus
Nearly all colleges, our coalition, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the
International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administratorsiii and other faculty
coalitions want to keep campuses gun-free for good reason. The college-age years are among the
most impulsive periods in a person’s life. These are the peak years for alcohol and drug abuse,
suicide attempts, and the emergence of mental health problems.
“[A]dding loaded weapons to an already potentially volatile mix of youthful exuberance; stress;
and yes, at times alcohol and other factors, could lead to a tragedy of our own making that we
could otherwise avoid,” said University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby, a gun owner,
in testimony against a bill to loosen campus gun restrictions before the Georgia House Committee
on Homeland Security and Public Safety (March 2013).
Proponents of campus carry believe that campus constituents should be allowed to arm
themselves for personal protection, but allowing guns on campus is ill-advised and unnecessary
for several reasons:
In 2013, the homicide rate at post secondary education institutions was 0.1 per 100,000 of
enrollment and by comparison the criminal homicide rate in the United States was 4.4 per
100,000.
U.S. colleges and universities are safe environments for students. In the universe of gun violence,
campus mass shootings are rare: 93 percent of violence against college students age 18–24 occurs
off campus, a U.S. Department of Justice study found. This is due in no small part to the prohibition
of firearms on campus.iv
More guns mean more gun deaths and injuries. One work place study in North Carolina found that
workplaces allowing workers to carry firearms and other weapons at work were 5-7 times more
likely to be the site of an on-the-job homicide compared to workplaces that prohibited workers
from carrying weapons. The North Carolina study confirms that just as residents of households
with guns are more likely to become a victim of a homicide in the home, workers who work in
places that allow guns are more likely to be killed while at work.v Why would we want to increase
the risk of gun violence to students, faculty, and staff?
More guns on campus will result in more suicides. Every year, 1,100 college students kill
themselves and another 24,000 try to.vi Suicide is the second leading cause of death for young
adults, behind accidents. Overdosing on drugs (the most common suicide method) is fatal only
about 3 percent of the time. With firearms, the success rate rises to more than 90 percent. How
many of those 24,000 attempts will be fatal if more firearms are more available to college
students?
Campus Crime Rates in Ohio are Lower Than Off-Campus Rates
Campus crime statistics in Ohio (2013 Clery Act) are drastically lower than the FBI and Ohio
Incident-Based Reporting System (OIBRS) crime statistics reported for off campus locations.vii For
example, the Columbus statistics for murder are 9.6 per 100,000 people vs. 0 on campus. For
forcible rape, it is 108.7 vs. 31.4. The most remarkable difference is in robbery and aggravated
assault 305 vs. 6 for robbery and 630 vs. 2.4 for aggravated assault. See chart below:
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Crime
City
Total
City
Rate
Campus
Total
Campus
Rate
Murder
78
9.6
0
0
Forcible
Rape
887
108.7
26
31.4
Robbery
2490
305
5
6
Aggravated
Assault
1687
630
2
2.4
While on campus crime certainly takes place and in some cases, can be underreported, the data
clearly demonstrates that one is safer on campus.
Concealed Weapons Don’t Lower Campus Crime
Recently, The Campaign conducted research that considered the sexual assault rates on the Utah
public campuses – a state that permits campus carry. We found immediately that the rates did not
drop, but rose at an alarming rate, much higher than the national average, and steady with the
national average on college campuses. In Utah, where campus carry has been permitted since
2004, the sexual assault statistics have fluctuated greatly over the past ten years with the last four
years going from 6.6 – 10.7 – 9.3 – 14 (2013) per 100,000. The difference between 2012 and 2013
accounted for nearly a 50% increase. The national average over the past ten years has been slowly
decreasing at a rate of approximately 3% per year (32.4 in 2004 to 25.2 in 2013 per 100,000).
While these results do not prove that concealed carry causes more crime; it certainly disproves
the argument that even the possible presence of an individual who is carrying a concealed
handgun equals less crime. The goals of our state legislators should not be arming more
individuals, but educating students at a younger age about the dangers of drugs and alcohol
related to sexual assault and the need to teach individuals to respect each other.
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Incidents of unintentional gun discharges and gun suicides
Those who support campus carry argue that the states that already allow it have had no issues.
That is the farthest from the case. There have been numerous incidents in Utah, Idaho, and
Colorado of unintentional guns discharges over the years. See three reported incidents below
involving individuals who possessed a concealed weapons permit and were unintentionally
injured:
Weber State, Ogden Utah
http://www.wsusignpost.com/2012/01/05/firearm-dischargeson-campus/
Idaho State, Pocatello, Idaho
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/09/05/i
daho-professor-shoots-himself-in-foot-two-months-afterstate-legalizes-guns-on-campuses/
Colorado University - Denver
http://www.westword.com/news/cu-denver-accidental-shootingnow-ex-staffer-trying-to-unjam-gun-when-it-fired-5909883
The only way we are aware of those incidents and others are because of the media. We have
included a survey of newspaper articles listing the various campus incidents from 2005 –
2015.viiiHow many other incidents have not been reported? It is not mandatory to report such an
occurrence based on the Clery Act. Until the Clery Act is changed to include these events, there is
no way of knowing.
Analysis Of 62 Mass Shootings In Public: No Evidence Mass Shooters Pick Their Targets
Because Of Gun Carrying Rules.
According to a Mother Jones analysis of 62 public mass shootings that happened over the past 30
years, the claim that mass shootings only occur where civilians are not allowed to carry guns is
contradicted by the data:
Specifically, “Among the 62 mass shootings over the last 30 years that we studied, not a single case
includes evidence that the killer chose to target a place because it banned guns. To the contrary, in
many of the cases there was clearly another motive for the choice of location. For example, 20
were workplace shootings, most of which involved perpetrators who felt wronged by employers
and colleagues. Last September, when a troubled man working at a sign manufacturer in
Minneapolis was told he would be let go, he pulled out a 9mm Glock and killed six people and
injured another before putting a bullet in his own head. Similar tragedies unfolded at a beer
distributor in Connecticut in 2010 and at a plastics factory in Kentucky in 2008.” [Mother Jones,
4/1/13]
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Costs associated with complying with state mandate allowing weapons on campus
Finally, we believe that allowing concealed weapons on college campuses does not come without
an unfunded mandate for colleges and universities. These increased costs will most likely be
passed on to students in the form of increased tuition rates. For example,


A recent report (Feb. 2015) states that the University of Houston and University of Texas
systems would face charges up to $47 million to respond to SB 11. Costs include gun safes,
additional training for faculty, staff, and campus security, and signage.
In 2014, the new campus carry law cost Idaho public colleges $3.7 to enhance security and
add metal detectors to venues that house more than 1,000 individuals.
For the above reasons, we respectively request that concealed weapons continue to be prohibited
from being carried on Ohio’s college and university campuses.
Thank you for considering my testimony in opposition to HB 48.
Respectfully submitted.
/s/
Andy Pelosi, executive director
i
See list: www.keepgunsoffcampus/colleges-and-universities-list/
States: AR, FL, GA, IN, MT, NV, OK, SC, SD, TN, VA, WV, & WY
iii
See: http://keepgunsoffcampus.org/blog/2013/05/02/iaclea-statement/
iv
U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Violent Victimization of College Students, 1995-2002,” p. 1,
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/vvcs02.pdf
v
D. Loomis, S Marshall, and M. Ta, Employer Policies Toward Guns and the Risk of Homicide in the Workplace, American
Journal of Public Health, May 2005
vi
Cintron, Miriam, “College Campuses Grapple with Escalating Suicide Rates,” Nearwestgazette.com
vii See attached chart detailing on campus vs. off campus crime rates in seven Ohio cities, as well as overall state numbers.
viii See attached document regarding unintentional shootings and gun suicides
ii
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