Alaska Senate Passes Campus Carry for ‘Firearms, Knives’

On April 7 the Alaska Senate passed campus carry legislation that also allows persons with concealed carry licenses to carry their firearms in dormitories.

The legislation–Senate Bill 174–passed by a vote of 13 to 5.

According to KTVA, SB 174 takes aim at the University of Alaska’s anti-gun policies. Bill sponsor senator Pete Kelly (R-Dist. A), said, “The policy of the University of Alaska is to say, OK, concealed carry is available to the rest of the state, but not on our campus. And for them to do that, they do it in a manner to achieve, they have said, the safety, it’s a safety issue with them. But of course we have seen that declaring an area a gun free zone and achieving safety are not connected in any way.”

Senate Minority Leader Berta Gardner (D-Dist. H) opposed the measure and called on her colleagues to oppose it as well. Gardner observed, “The University of Alaska’s a government building, it’s also a school. The Alaska State Capitol is a government building, why do we think it’s incumbent on us not to allow the board of regents to regulate their buildings in the same way our own?”

But Kelly responded by suggesting a change in the law as it regards the capitol building may be next. And he made clear that a bad current law regarding the capitol building does not justify a bad law regarding the University of Alaska. He said, “Whether there’s irony or hypocrisy that’s irrelevant. The fact is, is that the university was in conflict with our statutes and our constitution, and one at a time we take back that ground.”

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.