Just two weeks after a Kansas law went into effect allowing concealed carry on college campuses across the state, a Wichita State University employee found a 9mm hand guns in the bathroom of Jabara Hall, a classroom building in the heart of the university’s campus.
“I walked into the bathroom and found a firearm,” Erik Mallory, the WSU employee who found the gun told KAKE TV. “It was sitting on top of a toilet paper dispenser.”
Mallory, who found the gun on Friday, July 14, turned the gun over to campus police. On Monday, University spokes persons reported the gun was claimed and returned to the owner, also a university employee.
According to reports, the university employee was not punished.
Kansas Personal and Family Protection Act that went into effect on college and university campuses on July 1 allows people 21 and older to carry concealed weapons on campus. Universities can only ban guns in buildings where adequate security such as metal detectors and armed guards, are available to insure no one enters the building armed.
Under the policies established as part of the new concealed carry, most universities set rules that required individuals who carry on campus to keep their gun under their constant control and out of view. During our review of the WSU adopted policy on “Weapons on Campus,” we didn’t find an established policy for violating any of its provision.
Social media comments regarding the find, ranged from harsh to comical.
Joel Rutledge posted, “So… The same week that the campus goes tobacco free, the legislature forces WSU to allow guns on campus. So now we have nervous irritable people, who are allowed to carry guns…? No wonder some moron left a gun there: he was too busy running off campus to snag a smoke!
“No news story here. Granted it’s very reckless to do this; it was obviously an accident and could’ve been avoided with more training and common sense. I’m sorry but just because one kid leaves his gun in the bathroom doesn’t mean everyone else who goes to school there should lose the ability to protect themselves, this will have no effect on campus carry,” posted Dylan Yohe, whose Facebook photo show him standing along the edge of the water holding his rifle.
To the idea of more training being the answer, Andrew Nathan Sower wrote, “they have training how to not forget your gun in a public restroom now? Seems to me if you’re that irresponsible you probably shouldn’t carry. Most gun owners, I hope, would find this pretty concerning, too.”