Debating the bill to allow concealed carry on campus

Congratulations to Jehnifer and Butch Ehmann for yet another very successful ice fishing event out on Finger Lake to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation this past Saturday. I wasn’t able to visit the proceedings, but it sounds like they had the largest participation yet, with more than 1,000 kids on the ice and fishing. They also raised about $20,000 for Make-A-Wish.

Well done!

The Palmer Lions will host their annual gun show at Raven Hall on the Alaska State Fairgrounds March 5-6. Another gun show is planned for April out in Big Lake. I don’t have those dates yet, but I’ll let you know when I find out.

There’s been a lot of reporting recently about Alaska state Sen. Pete Kelly’s bill to allow concealed carry on Alaska university campuses. Virtually everything I’ve seen or read goes on about how dangerous that would be — having a bunch of immature teenagers running around with handguns. The other main criticism I have read is how hypocritical the legislature is being by wanting to allow concealed carry on college campuses while banning the same in their legislative and state office buildings.

Let’s look at these statements before passing judgment.

I assume Sen. Kelly is proposing this because several of the mass shootings in recent years have occurred on college campuses, areas which are known to be “gun free” and are the places of choice for these crackpots to start shooting because they know nobody can shoot back.

This is a serious safety concern.

The statements in the media about teenagers with guns running loose made me laugh and shake my head.

The ignorance of some media types is astounding!

By federal law, no one is allowed to possess a handgun under the age of 21, period! The last time I looked, most students right out of high school and into college didn’t meet that criteria. A lot of these students may already be graduated before reaching age 21.

In my experience at UAF years ago, many students were older, in their 20s and beyond, and a lot of them were military veterans, Vietnam War in my day. I suspect the same holds true today — different war but same results.

My wife brought this up when we were discussing the issue: what about the faculty, are they included here? I doubt you’ll find many under-21-aged faculty on campus. How about the maintenance staffs or the administrative folks? They’re all probably of legal age and, hopefully, mature enough to handle a concealed carry situation if they so choose.

The reality is that there are probably already concealed firearms being carried on all the university campuses statewide, against policy. Have there been any shoot-outs by drunken teenagers on campus? When I was at UAF, back in the Dark Ages, I carried a 22-caliber target pistol in my backpack for my physical education class shooting with the UAF pistol team. Nobody took offense or even cared, but that was a different time.

Security on Alaskan university campuses isn’t quite as “tight” as in the legislature, at least in my experience. Many of the folks working security on campus were students themselves, most likely with little or no training in dealing with an armed shooter. Police are a fine thing, but they’re not always around at the moment you really need them.

I’m not sure a security comparison between the legislature and a university campus is exactly fair, but I’ll think about it.

Back in my fish and game days, I was carrying concealed one day while doing some enforcement work along Ship Creek with another biologist. There was a minor issue (we weren’t involved) and the Anchorage Police Department was called as backup to the state trooper handling the situation. The officers asked me if I was carrying and I answered yes.

Case closed, or so I thought!

Back at the office, I was called into the biologist’s office and chewed out for having the firearm, against ADF&G policy. I argued that I was a citizen first and an employee second. That meant nothing to them. Anyway, I retired shortly after. The sport fish folks set up a committee to look into this situation.

About six months after retirement, I received a phone call from the biologist. He apologized for criticizing me. What the committee had found was my rights as a citizen took precedence over the employer’s policy. There were several other details involved which space prohibits mentioning, but I wonder if the same principle isn’t applicable here?

Time will tell.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This column is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications. You can leave Delo a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.