ASUU hosted its monthly town hall on Friday, Nov. 21, inviting students, faculty and community members to discuss and clarify concerns about open carry on the University of Utah campus.

Held in the Saltair Room of the Union building, the event featured three panelists: Dean of Students Jason Ramirez, Deputy General Counsel Robert Payne and U Police Captain Jason Hinojosa. Organized and moderated by Cameryn Coffey, Academic Affairs Director of ASUU, the town hall series is intended to facilitate clear and transparent conversations between students and university administration. 

“My board has worked really hard to implement monthly town halls that relate to student issues, faculty issues and related University policy changes, so students have a platform to speak directly to administration and also gain information about policies that are a big concern to them,” Coffey said. 

Background

In August, the U announced it would follow new guidelines outlined in HB 128, which reiterates existing law allowing individuals with proper permits to openly carry firearms on college campuses.

Guided by Coffey’s questions, the panelists opened up the discussion by explaining the specifics of HB 128 for attendees who were unfamiliar with the legal details, specifically how it applies to students, faculty and the community. 

Payne explained that before the most recent legislative session, the U’s Office of General Counsel interpreted the statutes on campus firearms to mean that anyone carrying a concealed weapon had to have a concealed weapons permit. “In this past year, the legislature re-codified the weapons laws, and in doing so, they changed the law to make it clear that somebody that holds a concealed weapons permit issued by the State of Utah can carry a firearm on campus,” Payne said.

Next, the panel answered a question about how the university distinguishes lawful open carry and threatening or disruptive behavior. “If you see someone walking with a firearm, and it’s in a holster on their hip, it’s openly displayed, that’s not immediately threatening. If you see it in their hand, or it’s being manipulated, I would call that an emergency,” Hinojosa said. 

Hinojosa urged anyone unsure about how to respond to seeing a firearm openly carried to call 911. When the police receive a call involving firearms, the first step is to verify whether the person has a Utah carry permit. “On campus, we want you to call us, and we’ll get officers in the area right away,” he said. 

Ramirez added that firearms are prohibited in secure hearing and mental health facilities. 

Kahlert swatting clarification

Although not directly tied to HB 128, the panel also offered some more information about the swatting incident at Kahlert Village last week to clear up confusion among the campus community.

Salt Lake City Police administrative line received a call in which the caller claimed he had stabbed his girlfriend, had a rifle and planned to start shooting in 20 minutes, Hinojosa explained. “It’s an active and ongoing investigation. [The situation was] a very common swatting call that’s happening all over the country with those exact same details.”

The panelists admitted to the faults within the U’s campus safety alert system and said that moving forward, the university will make changes in order to give students alerts in a quick and timely manner. 

“There’s no way to justify anything that happened. It was a failure, it’s been recognized and we have the wheels in motion to correct that,” Hinojosa said. 

After the panelist question portion, the conversation opened to public comment.

Community concerns and action

Shaiban Khan, a student at the town hall, asked whether the university was considering mandatory firearm training and how information on this would be shared with students in the future.

“Most of my concerns are about what kind of environment these policies might create on campus,” Kahn said. “I think the administration did a good job addressing my concerns, and I want to know if they are actually going to go forward with efforts to educate the students.” 

Ramirez explained that the university requires only one training for students, the sexual misconduct training that students must do in orientation. He said that the administration is looking into accessible and transparent firearm safety training for students. 

State senator Nate Blouin, a Utah alumnus and representative for the 13th District, expressed concerns about the lack of transparency with lawmakers and the presence of firearms in college dorms.

“The unfettered ability to keep firearms in college dorms is extremely concerning. That would scare me as a student here. I would love to see us move in a direction where that aspect in particular is addressed,” Blouin said. 

The discussion also addressed past incidents and opportunities for improved collaboration between the university and state lawmakers. “I’m really glad that the panelists were so open to discussion and admitting to failure from the swatting incident,” Coffey said. “I really hope that we can see some changes and more partnership within the legislature and our administration in the future.”

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