Democrat Rep. Pushes to Disarm Campus Police at University of Oregon

Oregon State Rep. Diego Hernandez (D-Portland) is pushing legislation to disarm campus police at the University of Oregon and Portland State University.

KTVZ quoted Hernandez saying, “This bill is about making students at our university campuses safer. The fact of the matter is students at both campuses have said time and time again they do not want armed police on their campus. Sound policy has to come from and center the communities impacted, and it’s time we listen to students.”

The Oregon Student Association supports Hernandez’s push to disarm police. They cite a May 2018 incident in which UO officers “drew their weapons” on a student, believing him to be a suspect, and a June 2018 incident in which PSU officers shot and killed a 45-year-old who allegedly dropped a gun then picked it up during a fight.

KATU reports that students said the 45-year-old was allegedly trying to break the fight up when his gun fell to the ground.

KTVU published a statement in which UO student body president Maria Gallegos and UO student body vice president Imani Dorsey expressed support of Rep. Hernandez’s bill to disarm campus police.

An excerpt from that statement says:

No student should have to fear for their own life on campus from an institution that is supposed to protect and serve them. What has happened with armed police at both UO and PSU is what students at both campuses said would happen and why students have been saying for years not to arm our campus police. We believe there needs to be laws in place to protect students from police violence since we can’t depend on the police to protect us.

On February 11, 2019, Breitbart News reported that Massachusetts College of Art and Design trustees voted to keep their campus police unarmed. MassArt police Sgt. Matt Hurley bemoaned the vote, saying, “The MassArt community has been done a disservice as it has presented a false sense of security.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.