Colleges and universities are among the multitude of groups inserting themselves into the national debate on changing gun laws.
Since December, presidents from hundreds of institutions have signed an open letter to President Barack Obama urging action on gun laws.
As of Thursday night, North Carolina institutions Davidson College, Wake Forest University, Meredith College and Louisburg College have signed the letter.
The letter pushes for legislation that would ban carrying concealed weapons on campuses, improve background checks required to purchase guns and ban some semi-automatic weapons.
“The time has long since passed for silence and inaction on the issue of reasonable and rational gun safety legislation,” said Lawrence Schall, president of Oglethorpe University, and Elizabeth Kiss, president of Agnes Scott College, in the letter.
UNC spokeswoman Susan Hudson said schools in the UNC system, including UNC-CH, have joined 359 colleges and universities in supporting an earlier, similar resolution by the Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus.
But Michael Hammond, legislative counsel for Gun Owners of America, said university presidents’ efforts would make campuses less safe.
“I think college presidents, by contributing to that sort of anti-gun frenzy, are increasing the chances of copycat killings going to occur,” Hammond said.
As of August, 21 states — including North Carolina — have a ban on carrying a concealed weapon on campuses, and 23 allow schools to make their own rules. Five states allow concealed weapons on public college campuses.
