Campus Carry Coming to South Dakota and Wyoming on July 1, 2025

 uw-madison – https://admissions.wisc.edu/campus-virtual-tour/bascom-hill/

There are 12 states where concealed carry on campus is legal during the first half of 2025. On July 1, 2025, there will be 14 as laws become effective in Wyoming and South Dakota.

On  June 30, 1971, the 26th Amendment was ratified allowing people 18 years and older the right to vote in the United States. Thus the age of majority was lowered from 21 years old to 18 years old.  Most students at universities are less than 21 years old. For most of the history of the United States, universities took on the role of a parent for the minors who were students. Many, if not most, forbid activities they considered dangerous. When the age of majority was lowered to 18 in 1971, the “in loco parentis” authority largely disappeared.  People of age 18 or older had legal control of their lives.

In September, 2006, the Utah Supreme Court ruled that under Utah law, the University could not unilaterally ban the legal carry of concealed weapons on campus. Six months later, in April of 2007,  the Virginia Tech mass murder was perpetrated. 32 students and faculty were murdered. All of the victims were disarmed by University policy. Virginia Tech continues a broad ban on all weapons and some toys today.

The horrendous mass murder at Virginia Tech and the successful implementation of campus carry in Utah helped spur a movement to secure the rights protected by the Second Amendment to state institutions of higher learning across the United States. Several research papers have found no noticeable effect on homicides, suicides or accidents in those states which have passed laws preventing public institutions of higher learning form banning the carry of handguns for defense of self and others.

The states that have removed infringements or ruled them to be illegal occurred in the following order:

Utah 2006, Colorado 2010, Oregon 2011, Wisconsin 2011, Mississippi 2012, Idaho 2014, Tennessee 2016, Arkansas 2017, Georgia 2017, Kansas 2017, Texas 2017, West Virgina 2024, and as of July 1, South Dakota 2025, and Wyoming 2025.

Campus carry to start in South Dakota. From keloland.com:

On July 1, pistols and handguns will be allowed on public college campuses and technical schools in South Dakota. 

A senate bill that passed during this year’s legislative session prohibits universities from restricting firearms on school property. 

Wyoming will allow persons with permits to carry in Wyoming schools on July 1, 2025.

Campus carry has had a sterling reputation. As of June of 2025, no one who could legally carry a handgun on campus has been found to commit a homicide or a suicide. Many students who do not carry guns have been victims of homicide or have committed suicide. The fears of those opposing campus carry have been shown to be fantastical.  They stem from the mindset that guns are bad. Banning guns on campus appears to be based on emotion rather than fact. Many of the arguments used against concealed carry on campus are “mindset” arguments. How will I feel? Will I feel less safe? Will some people refuse to choose a campus were students can legally carry guns? Very few arguments deal with statistics of how licensed concealed carriers have fewer legal problems than do police officers.  Paradoxically, as academics have moved to the left, state legislatures have embraced the Second Amendment. There are more state universities where it is legal for students to exercise rights protected by the Second Amendment than ever before.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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