The vast majority of students at 15 Midwestern colleges and universities do not want concealed handguns on their campuses, says a study from Ball State University.

“Student Perceptions and Practices Regarding Carrying Concealed Handguns on University Campuses” found that 78 percent of students in the Midwest oppose allowing concealed handguns on campuses and would not obtain a permit to carry one, if it were made legal. The study, originally released in 2013, surveyed 1,649 undergraduate college students and was recently published in the Journal of American College Health.

The study also found:

• About 16 percent of undergraduate students own a firearm and 20 percent witnessed a crime on their campus that involved firearms.

• About 79 percent of students would not feel safe if faculty, students, and visitors carried concealed handguns on campus.

• About 66 percent did not feel that carrying a gun would make them less likely to be troubled by others.

• Half did not know whether their university had a policy regarding firearms on campus.

• Most students also believed that allowing concealed carry guns would increase the rate of fatal suicides and homicides on campus.

The study also found that students who perceived there to be advantages to carrying concealed handguns on campus were significantly more likely to be males, firearm owners, victims of crime on- or off-campus and binge drinkers.

However, the majority of woman said there were more disadvantages to carrying handguns on campus. These were women who did not own firearms and did not have a firearm in the home growing up.

Read the release: http://cms.bsu.edu/news/articles/2013/9/students-say-no-to-concealed-weapons-on-campus