Faculty at Arizona universities will have to wait a little longer before they're permitted to pack heat in the classroom, thanks to Senator Linda Gray
Gray, the chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, chose to hold off on voting on a bill that would allow faculty at Arizona universities to carry concealed weapons on campus.
The senator wants to wait on the bill until another piece of legislation regarding concealed weapons works its way through the legislature.
That bill, SB 1102, which we wrote about yesterday, is a Russell Pearce joint that would allow any adult in Arizona to carry a concealed weapon without a background check or mandatory DPS-run safety training.
Let's just say the fuzz isn't too thrilled with the idea, which John Thomas, spokesman for the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police says "will take Arizona back to the Wild West."
Until a final version of that bill is approved, Gray wants to set the faculty concealed weapons bill aside in order to consider amendments that would ensure that faculty members be required to have a permit if they want to bring concealed weapons on campus.
Permits or not, the idea of teachers having guns in the classroom still sounds a lot like the Wild West, if you ask us.
Another problem with the faculty concealed weapons bill that lawmakers want to sort out, as pointed out in an article by the Arizona Guardian, is the definition of the word "faculty."
The guy moppin' the floors in a lecture hall obviously doesn't apply but lawmakers are concerned about whether it would include part-time teachers or guest lecturers.
If that guest lecturer happens to be from out of state, our guess is they not only won't have a concealed weapon on them but they'll also ask, "You can bring guns into a classroom here? What century is this?"
Making Arizona proud, one bill at a time....
