After a resolution about using guns on campus was introduced during their meeting on Thursday, tensions ran high between Grand Valley State University’s student senators.

Senator Benjamin Soltis introduced his resolution to “incorporate a Good Samaritan policy in the student code to allow legally carried firearms on campus to be used in case of an emergency.” Soltis emphasized that this resolution is not about letting people bring guns to campus, but to shield someone from student sanctions who used their legally registered gun if there were ever an emergency on campus.

“It should be so that if someone is with a gun and they use it on the campus university in an emergency situation, let’s say (against) a shooter or knife-holding person, that they won’t be charged by student sanctions,” Soltis said.

Senator Kelsey Lugin voiced more than a few concerns with this resolution.

“How would we know that this person is a Good Samaritan just because they have a (concealed pistol license)?” Lugin asked. “Second, that doesn’t give them training police officers have (and) third, if this was an emergency situation how would you know who the shooter was?”

Soltis said that a CPL holder has to take three hours of training with a gun, while a police officer has to take “a maximum of about 12 minutes, and they use even less rounds.”

During the banter between the two senators, Lugin interrupted Soltis, saying she feels “a lot safer with a police officer.”

According to the Michigan State Police website, police officers in the state of Michigan have to pass a course of fire for all weapons, and are trained on semi-auto pistols, revolvers, shotguns and rifles as well as pass two written exams with an 80 percent or better score.

During the general assembly meeting, other senators spoke up to try to clear any confusion on what the resolution was trying to accomplish.

“This is not, in any way, saying that we should have guns and not, in any way, asking the university to allow guns,” said Jeremy Turnbull, vice president for finance. “It’s an exemption to a student sanction. In a situation, we should allow citizens to act independently and not, retrospectively, get punished for it.”

The current student code at GVSU states that only law enforcement officials can carry firearms. However, according to Michigan laws, CPL holders are allowed on college campuses, with restrictions on where they can go with those guns.

Many senators advised Soltis that he should try to define what “emergency” meant, noting that the term can be subjective according to each individual person.

Another large concern came from Vice President for Campus Affairs, Sean O’Melia, who was skeptical about criticizing the student code.

“It undermines the student code in a way,” O’Melia said. “I feel like we could go about this a different way and change the student code rather than having student senate say the student code is wrong.”

Senator Kristoffer Butler said he hoped senators would push their personal thoughts aside when voting on this resolution.

“I encourage all of you to go ask your friends, the people that voted for you, post on Facebook for GV students only and actually present the information,” Butler said. “It’s not just about the 45 of us in here that need to make this decision, it’s a campus-wide decision.”

Senator Kevin Chui motioned to postpone voting on this resolution for an extra week. Normal procedure for the senate is to introduce a resolution one week and open the floor for discussion, and then revisit it the week after with final discussion and then voting. Chui said one week is not enough time to think about a topic as large and as controversial as this.

There were three people in the gallery who spoke during public comment; all were in support of the resolution. All three asked the senators to consider the idea that it is not the guns that kill, but the people behind the guns. They expressed hope GVSU could be proactive, rather than reactive.

Soltis has previously worked on resolutions to place a larger size of the American flag on the Allendale Campus and to drop the ban of pepper spray from the student code.

For more information on the Good Samaritan resolution, contact Soltis at [email protected] or visit his public Facebook page at www.fb.com/BenjaminJSoltis.