Lawmaker Thinks College Students in Kentucky Should Be Allowed to Carry Guns on Campus

Kentucky Rep. Tim Moore (Image: Official Tim Moore campaign website)

“Law-abiding citizens have a right to protect themselves,” said Kentucky Republican state Rep. Tim Moore, announcing House Bill 210, which would prohibit Kentucky’s publicly funded colleges from stopping students from carrying a gun on campus, as long as they have a proper license for carrying a concealed weapon.

Moore, as reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, thinks a college campus is one the more dangerous places that students go in 2018.

Spokesmen for the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky told the Journal that they want to keep prohibitions against weapons on campus:

“Public universities in Kentucky are exempted from the concealed carry law,” University of Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton said in an email. “We support, and the officials on our campus charged with keeping our community safe support, maintaining that exemption.

Moore brought similar legislation last year, but it failed to pass.

18 states introduced bills last year to allow guns on campuses, according to information from The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus.

Kentucky law permits anyone who is at least 21 years old to obtain a concealed carry license, provided they pass state and federal background checks and complete a safety course.

Two Kentucky high school students were killed last month in a school shooting that also left 18 people wounded.