Senate opposes concealed carry

The 96th session of Student Senate concluded on Wednesday evening with their final Senate meeting. Student Body President Paul Nolan gave a final farewell, as did some of the members of the Senate Executive Board. Many members of the Senate expressed their thanks to the Senate and its members. Resolution 104, which was passed, and Finance Bill 106, which failed, were both highly debated by the legislative body.

Resolution 104 expressed opposition to bills proposed by the North Carolina General Assembly that would make it lawful to carry a concealed handgun in North Carolina without a concealed carry permit.

Sen. Coleman Simpson, a junior studying agricultural education, argued for the bill, stating that while he was a firm supporter of the Second Amendment, he did not think a college campus was the right place for guns.

“I don’t need protection to walk across campus in the broad daylight, 200 meters to go to Talley,” Simpson said. “Raleigh is sketch; campus can be sketch. However, I do think for the current period these bills are unnecessary and unwarranted for what they’re trying to accomplish. I do think we have a system on campus that promotes safety for students.”

Sen. Sam Potter, a senior studying political science, however, felt the bill was unnecessary, as the North Carolina legislature bill was still in committee.

“I think that the research backing this up are not backing up the arguments for this bill,” Potter said. “My main opposition is not so much the content but this is a bill that’s in committee and has been in committee for a while, and is unlikely to ever get out of committee and be passed by the General Assembly.”

Finance Bill 106, which would have allocated funds to buying electronic voting devices, faced much opposition by student senators.

Sen. Adam Schmidt, a first-year studying engineering, felt that the bill was a waste of the student’s tuition.

“This is an irresponsible use of student fees,” Schmidt said. “If someone were to ask me if we passed this bill, if they were to ask me a week from now, why did you spent $4,900 on the clicker system, I would say it’s so Student Government and a handful of other organizations could save anywhere from five to 30 minutes on a bi-weekly basis. I don’t think it’s worth that amount of money or an appropriate use of our time.”

Senate President Pro-Tempore Mitchell Moravec, a senior studying materials science and psychology, sponsored the bill. He explained that he hoped funding for the voting clickers would come from other sources.

“We are challenging these clicker producers to really lower the pricing,” Moravec said. “In addition, we would be working with these other funding sources. I think this a really great resource that I am not willing to spent $5,000 from Student Government. I want to spend as little as possible, but I think we need to put the pledge forward.”

The 96th session of Student Senate will remain in sine die, a period of transition, until the 97th session starts.