A bill that would allow holders of concealed-weapon permits to bring their guns to campus passed the Senate Judiciary committee by one vote Monday after being amended to only apply to college campuses.
Senate Bill 1214, which has stirred up controversy on both sides of the gun-control debate, passed the committee along party lines, with four Republicans voting for it and three Democrats dissenting.
The committee passed the bill after amending it, striking the lines that would allow concealed carry on kindergarten through twelfth-grade campuses.
Community colleges and universities, however, are still the subjects of the gun bill.
On Tuesday, a new Cronkite/Eight poll released by ASU professor Bruce Merrill showed that 73 percent of registered Arizona voters objected to the idea of concealed-weapons carriers bringing guns on campus.
Twenty percent of those polled supported the measure, and 7 percent remained undecided.
But the campus leader of Arizona Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, Michael Fancher, said the group is thrilled the measure passed.
"Whether it passes by an inch or a mile, we really don't care," Fancher said.
At the Judiciary Committee hearing, the ASU, UA and NAU police chiefs testified in opposition to the bill.
Allowing concealed carry on campus would add confusion to an active shooter situation and make it difficult for police to do their job, the police chiefs said.
"I think our job is difficult enough," ASU Police Chief John Pickens told the committee last Monday. "I don't believe that more weapons on campus is the solution."
Next, SB 1214 will be heard in the Senate Rules Committee, said Amy Bjelland, legal counsel for the Senate majority — the Republican party.
There are four Republicans and three Democrats on the Rules committee so, if they also vote according to party lines, the bill would pass.
If it passes, SB 1214 will go to both parties' caucuses, where the senators can ask questions to gain a better understanding of the bill.
From there, it would go to the committee of the whole, better known as the Senate floor, Bjelland said.
The soonest the bill could be heard on the Senate floor is next Thursday, Bjelland said, as the next Rules Committee hearing isn't until Monday, and the bill isn't guaranteed to be heard then.
Jeanette Engle, a music therapy junior, said she understands the thinking behind the measure, but doesn't support the bill itself.
The bill would make the ASU campus a more dangerous environment, she said.
"[But] I don't think it matters," Engle added. "If someone wants to carry a gun concealed on campus, they'll do it anyway."
Reach the reporter at: leigh.munsil@asu.edu.
