Effort Underway To Allow Guns On Minnesota Campus

    MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A campaign is underway to allow some students, faculty, staff and visitors to carry firearms at the University of Minnesota.

The "Allow Campus Carry" event kicked off Monday with a petition drive and information handout in Coffman Union. The campaign is scheduled to run through Thursday.

Supporters call for allowing people 21 and older who are legally permitted to carry weapons to do so on campus.

Susan Eckstein, president of College Republicans at the university, says lifting the ban on legally authorized personal weapons would help those on campus feel safer.

The university's ban on weapons on its campuses in the Twin Cities, Rochester, Duluth, Morris and Crookston predates Minnesota's 2003 conceal-and-carry law.

University general counsel Bill Donohoe says  there are no plans to reconsider it.