Who Should Carry Guns on Campus? Assessing Variations in Support for Campus Carry Across Campus Community Membership Status

Abstract

ABSTRACT This exploratory study used data collected from a representative sample of 522 Pennsylvania residents and 238 Pennsylvania college students to measure attitudes toward four different types of campus carry (CC) – student, faculty, staff, and universal carry. Findings indicated that a slight majority of both samples believed that armed staff and armed faculty members would be able to neutralize a threat is one arose on a college campus. However, both samples were unconfident in the threat neutralization abilities of armed students. Generally, findings indicated that both samples were unsupportive of any form of CC, although there was greater support indicated for faculty and staff CC than for student or universal CC. Multivariable modeling indicated that gun socialization, political beliefs, and orientations toward law enforcement, were the strongest predictors of support for CC, while gun knowledge exhibited a moderately-strong relationship in some models. Implications based on these findings are discussed within.