I’ve shot guns, grown up with them in the house, gone through hunter’s education, obtained a license to hunt and even killed two cow elk. Some of my favorite memories are going to the gravel pits near my house to practice shooting with my dad before hunting season.
But the fact that firearms can be legally carried on the University of Utah’s campus terrifies me.
Here in Utah, we’ve already seen how prevalent gun violence is — just two months ago an on-campus shooting at Utah Valley University took the life of right-wing political commentator Charlie Kirk. This happened just months after the Utah Legislature enacted HB128.
As a student at the U. — where Utahns 18 years old or older, who have a concealed weapon permit, can carry a firearm — I fear these types of events will continue to unfold.
This policy puts students and faculty in danger, and I believe the U. has shown little regard for the concerns surrounding it. Under its policy, the university must take steps to ensure safe storage in the dorms, routine checks for the correct permit to carry a firearm and incorporate in-depth education about the bill during orientation for incoming students.
You must be 21 years old to apply for the standard concealed weapon permit and 18 years old for the provisional. One of the biggest differences between the two is the provisional permit’s prohibition of carrying firearms in K-12 schools and private schools. It costs $52 for residents, $87 for nonresidents and you cannot have been previously convicted of any criminal offenses, including violence or substance abuse, or been declared mentally incompetent. To apply, you must also have a photo ID, a fingerprint card and a non-resident proof of permit if necessary. These are the only requirements listed by the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Growing up, I knew guns were used to hunt and harvest meat for my family and to shoot the skunks that try to kill our chickens. This was appropriate for my rural lifestyle, but Salt Lake City is not rural, and I don’t see the need to bring a gun to school with me.
Get Inside Voices newsletter. A weekly collection of ideas, perspectives and solutions from across Utah.In urban areas, about 71% of gun owners say protection is the reason they own a gun. I never once thought of guns as something used as protection from other humans. In fact, the first thing I was taught about guns was that they were never to be pointed at another human.
Many shootings that happen at colleges aren’t because someone was protecting themself. What happened at UVU in September reinforces this.
As a gun-owner, I’m mortified that someone would use their own firearm to kill another human, whether it be accidental or otherwise. On a campus where it’s legal to carry a gun, a shooting can occur for either reason.
The factors that lead to gun violence are all around us at college: drugs, alcohol, mental health problems, the loneliness and stress of leaving home for the first time and, of course, the lack of proper storage for a firearm in a dorm room.
In 2023, 67% of unintentional firearm deaths were shooters playing with or showing off the gun when it discharged, and most of the time these firearms weren’t stored in a secure location. Students are constantly going in and out of rooms. I lived in the dorms on campus and saw this every day. I can only imagine how easy it would be for a student who may not be aware of the importance of gun safety to find one and mistakenly pull the trigger.
The point is not that guns should be banned altogether, but they should be banned in environments where they are unnecessary, like a college campus. I want to walk to class thinking about my education, not my ability to defend myself if someone were to start shooting. Until recently, I felt assured of my safety on campus, but after seeing such devastation unfold at UVU just months after this bill was enacted, I question how other colleges could be affected.
Students like me are uncomfortable and scared. The U.’s short statement summarizing the new policy demonstrates a lack of regard for any concerns people might have.
Whether you’re anti- or pro-gun control, it’s a fact that gun violence is a widespread problem in America, with 378 mass shootings already recorded in 2025, according to CNN. HB128 is a ginormous step back in any progress that could’ve been made in decreasing this number. Instead, I believe it practically enables the problem of gun violence to continue.
We should be considering the conditions that make people feel the need to carry guns and see if we can alleviate those before making guns more accessible on campus. At the U., it is imperative that proper gun storage be provided in on-campus housing to protect students.
If you, too, would like to raise your concerns, I urge you to contact Utah’s legislators and the U.’s administration.
Kacie Flolo is a junior at the University of Utah, studying journalism. She is originally from Sun Valley, Idaho, and wrote this op-ed in collaboration with Amplify Utah.
