PHOENIX β Saying college and university students, faculty and visitors need more protection, a House panel voted Monday to let them arm themselves β at least somewhat.
HB 2172 would override existing regulations that now keep all weapons off campuses. Instead, people would be allowed to have βnonlethalβ forms of self-defense.
Exactly what that includes, however, is less than clear.
βItβs not a gun, itβs not a huge knife, itβs not a sword,β said Rep. Travis Grantham, R-Gilbert, saying anything that could kill under normal circumstances would remain off-limits.
What it does include, he said, are various chemical sprays. And stun guns that shock a would-be assailant also would be allowed.
But Grantham rejected a suggestion that his legislation is too vague and that he needs to include a specific list of what would now be legal.
He said that closes the door to other forms of nonlethal weapons that may be under development. Grantham also rejected the idea that people wonβt know what they can and cannot have.
βItβs pretty clear whatβs lethal and whatβs nonlethal,β he said.
The 8-3 vote of the House Education Committee came over the objection of Kristen Boilini, who lobbies on behalf of community colleges statewide. She said each of those colleges are run by locally elected boards.
βThey listen to students, they listen to voters,β Boilini said. She asked lawmakers to leave that issue to local control.
The university system, however, is another issue.
Boyer said the Board of Regents has yet to take an official position. About the only input provided was a letter by university presidents to Rep. Paul Boyer, R-Phoenix, who chairs the committee, saying these kinds of issues should be resolved with consultation rather than legislation.
Much of the testimony focused on the vulnerability of students.
Mike Williams, who lobbies for Taser International, told lawmakers that 8 percent of women college students are victims of sexual assault. He said itβs not asking for too much to allow students to be armed with one of the products his company makes.
He told lawmakers that Taser manufactures more than the stun guns used by police, the devices that deliver a 500-volt jolt over five seconds. Williams said the company also markets a device specifically for students, one that will disable an attacker for 30 seconds, allowing the would-be victim to drop the device and run to seek help.
Williams said Taser will replace the device if a police report is filed.
Grantham acknowledged that the Board of Regents does allow students to carry over-the-counter pepper sprays.
But he argued the policy does not permit those devices to have sufficient quantities of the chili pepper oil to make them effective.
The measure now needs the approval of the full House.
