Student wants to carry guns at Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (CBS) - A Purdue University student wants to carry a gun to class and thinks other students should have that right too.

Student government senator Zach Briggs thinks carrying concealed weapons would make campus safer. 

"Students, staff and faculty, if they have the proper state licensing, should be able to also be licensed by Purdue to carry a handgun, "Briggs said.

Briggs is working on a legislation for it in the student government. He said a concealed carrier could have stopped the Virginia Tech shooter in 2007.

Briggs proposes students take an eight hour class to get a license from Purdue to carry a weapon. He's already arranged discounted gun safety classes at a West Lafayette shooting range.

But, not everyone's sold on the idea.

"If I took an 8 hour course and I had a gun I would feel a little bit safer but I just don't think that's right," Rachel Stege, a Purdue senior said.

Dawn Williams is a freshman at Purdue. She said, "I don't feel like just anybody should just have a gun, you know, because I feel like crime rates would go up."

Alex Illium, a senior, doesn't think it's a good idea either.

"It's only going to cause more chaos in the end if a situation did occur," he said.

The campus police chief said Purdue's crime rate rises no where near gun necessity. He also has concerns about mixing guns and alcohol.

"Just putting firearms in the mix with alcohol and young men and women can only lead to more of those random acts of violence," John Cox, the Purdue University Police Chief, said.

Student government has to pass the resolution first. Then, it would go to the University Senate and on to Purdue's Board of Trustees.