Surprising her conservative supporters and gun rights advocates, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, has vetoed a bill that would have allowed guns on university and community college campuses.
Senate Bill 1467 is “poorly written,” Brewer, usually a strong supporter of gun rights, said in her veto letter. “Bills impacting our Second Amendment rights have to be crystal clear so that gun owners don’t become lawbreakers by accident.”
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Ron Gould, said the veto will compromise campus safety, a hot topic since the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007. “College students will continue to be in a defense-free zone,” he told the Arizona Republic newspaper. But college administrators praised the governor’s decision.
“We’ve seen what happens when guns and university campuses mix. It’s not pretty,” said Arizona State University Senate President Gary Grossman.
In its original form, SB 1467 would have allowed guns anywhere on campus, including classrooms. Amid fierce criticism, lawmakers amended it to permit weapons only on “a public right of way” within campuses, which apparently included sidewalks and roads.
But Brewer faulted lawmakers for “inexplicably” neglecting to define “public right of way.” She noted that “There are four differing definitions currently found in Arizona statutes but none apply to this bill.”
“While I support the thoughtful expansion of where guns should be allowed, the actual legislation that does so must be clear and unambiguous to protect the Second Amendment rights of lawful gun owners,” she concluded.
If the bill had passed, Arizona would have become the second state in the nation, following Utah, to allow guns on college campuses. In Texas, a bill that would allow concealed handgun license holders to bring weapons into classrooms faltered after students and administrators mobilized to oppose it.
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