Collective Security, Fear of Crime, and Support for Concealed Firearms on a University Campus in the Western United States

• Author: Joseph De Angelis,Terressa A. Benz,Patrick Gillham
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016816686660
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Collective Security, Fear of

Crime, and Support for

Concealed Firearms on a

University Campus in the

Western United States

Joseph De Angelis

1

, Terressa A. Benz

2

, and Patrick Gillham

3

Abstract

Recently, a number of state legislatures in the United States have sought to loosen restrictions on

the carrying of concealed firearms on university campuses. Often these legislative initiatives are

driven by the argument that concealed firearms on campuses will deter crime. Unfortunately, little

attention has been paid to variation in employee support for the carrying of concealed firearms.

Moreover, little is known about the intersection between fear of crime, trust in the police, and

support for concealed firearms on campus. Given that, this study draws on a survey administered to

a random sample of faculty and staff at one large rural university in the Western United States (n¼

1,170). More specifically, this study examines whether fear of workplace violence and/or trust in

police and local government predict/predicts support for concealed firearms on campus, even after

controlling for other potential factors such as prior victimization, political orientation, and demo-

graphic background. Results indicate that fear of violence and distrust in the police/government are

strongly related to support for concealed carry, though a number of other factors matter, including

political orientation, social capital, and respondent demographic characteristics.

Keywords

guns, concealed carry, attitudes, campus, collective security

While many college and universities in the United States prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms

on their grounds, a growing number of state legislatures have considered or passed bills allowing

private citizens to carry concealed firearms on campus (Thompson, Price, Dake, & Teeple, 2013;

1

Department Sociology and Anthropology, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, USA

2

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice and Social Work, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

3

Sociology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Joseph De Angelis, Department Sociology and Anthropology, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 1110, Moscow,

ID 83844, USA.

Email: jtdeangelis@uidaho.edu

Criminal Justice Review

2017, Vol. 42(1) 77-94

ª2017 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016816686660

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Thompson, Price, Dake, Teeple, Bassler, et al., 2013). As of 2014, at least 14 state legislatures

considered legislation relati ng to concealed firearms on camp us (National Conference of Stat e

Legislatures, 2015), and eight states curre ntly require public colleges and universities to allow

concealed firearms on their campuses. Although it is becoming increasingly common for states to

allow concealed firearms on campuses, the debates accompanying these policy initiatives have been

highly polarizing. The supporters of these laws routinely argue that faculty, staff, and students

cannot rely on the police to prevent violent crimes and allowing concealed firearms on campus will

deter criminals and allow armed citizens to quickly deploy lethal force when necessary (Spitzer,

2015). Opponents, on the other hand, have observed that serious crime is extremely rare on college

campuses and allowing more guns on campus may increase the number of student suicides, acci-

dental shootings, and student–student and student–faculty homicides (Thompson, Price, Dake, &

Teeple, 2013; Thompson, Price, Dake, Teeple, Bassler, et al., 2013).

Even though a great deal of media attention has been devoted to the spread of concealed carry

law and its accompanying rhetoric, we know far less about how university employees perceive

these laws. While the existing research on public attitudes toward concealed carry on campuses

seems to suggest a majority of Americans oppose allowing concealed firear ms on campus, there

are a number of unanswered questions relating to patterns in support for concealed carry on

campus. Most research on attitudes toward guns on campus has focused on large urban universities

located in highly populated states. Far less attention has been devoted to attitudes toward con-

cealed carry in smaller, rural states, which are presumably more likely to hold more favorable

attitudes toward firearms. Perhaps more importantly, most research in this area focus on faculty

and student attitudes and neglected the attitudes of other key frontline university employees, such

as classified and administrative staff. To help fill that gap in the literature, this study draws on an

electronic survey distributed to a random sample of faculty, classified staff, and administrators at

one large Western university and examines the predictors of employee attitudes toward concealed

carry on campus. More specifically, this study has several goals. First, it seeks to explore the

impact that fear of crime has on support for concealed carry. Second, the study examines the extent

to which trust in the police and/or the government to maintain collective security influences

support for concealed firearms on campus.

Concealed Carry Movement and College Campuses

Over the last several decades, there has been a movement toward the liberalization of gun control

policy in the United States. This trend is particularly noteworthy, given that gun ownership has

declined slightly in the United States since the 1980s (Hepburn, Miller, Azrael, & Hemenway, 2007;

Patten, Thomas, & Wada, 2013; True & Utter, 2002), while the number of firearms per household

has increased (Saad, 2012; True & Utter, 2002). Nonetheless, a large number of state legislatures

have sought to relax the legal requirements governing the carrying of concealed firearms in public

settings. While more research is needed regarding whether allowing concealed carry impacts the risk

of mass murder and/or violent crime, some research has been conducted on the issue. John Lott, a

leading proponent of the “more guns, less crime” perspective, has suggested that the passage of

right-to-carry laws and increased gun carrying will help prevent violent crime (see Lott, 1998; Lott

& Mustard, 1997). More recent research on the issue has demonstrated that this work suffers from

serious methodological flaws and should not be used to make policy recommendations (see Ayers &

Donohue, 2003; Black & Nagin, 1998; Durlauf, Navarro, & Rivers, 2016; Duwe, Kovandzic, &

Moody, 2002; Webster et al., 2016). For example, Duwe, Kovandzic, and Moody (2002) examined

the impact of right-to-carry laws on mass public shootings from 1977 to 1999 and concluded that

these laws do not encourage or discourage mass shootings. Further, Black and Nagin (1998) reported

that right to carry had no measurable impact on year-to-year patterns in violent crime.

78 Criminal Justice Review 42(1)