Student Leaders Blast Bill Allowing Guns In UW Buildings

University of Wisconsin student leaders from around the state are speaking out against a bill to allow concealed firearms on their campuses.

Student body government leaders at UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout and UW-Milwaukee have all spoken out against a Republican bill called the Campus Carry Act, which would allow people to carry concealed weapons in UW buildings. Jake Wrasse, the student body president at UW-Eau Claire, said allowing guns would not make schools safer and could complicate police response to real threats.

“I just wonder who it is that these representatives think it is they’re standing up for and protecting, when the people who are ostensibly helped by it don’t want it,” he said.

The UW-Eau Claire Student Senate will vote on an official resolution opposing the Campus Carry Act on Monday.

State Rep. Jesse Kremer and Sen. Devin LeMahieu are the authors of the bill.

Correction: The original version of this story said the bill in question would allow people to carry concealed weapons on university campuses. In fact, concealed carry is already legal on campuses, just not necessarily inside university buildings.