A student who apparently killed himself with a gun early Monday also had an assault rifle and explosive materials in his dorm room at University of Central Florida, authorities say. It's illegal to have guns on campus in Florida, but some other states now allow them.
University of Central Florida police block off a street near the Tower 1 dorm, tall building center, after explosive devices were found by authorities investigating the apparent suicide of a college student in the dorm, Monday, in Orlando, Fla. Hundreds of students were evacuated, though the school said there was no immediate threat.
John Raoux/AP
EnlargeA student at the University of Central Florida apparently shot himself to death early Monday in his dorm room, triggering an evacuation of some 500 students at the seven-story dormitory after authorities responding at the scene also found an assault weapon, a handgun, and improvised explosive devices in his room.
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"Obviously you never want somebody to commit suicide, but knowing what we know about what was in his room, we feel better at least that no one else was hurt," said university spokesman Grant Heston.
The deceased student, found just after midnight, has not been publicly identified. Police said the explosive devices they found in a bag in his room ?have been made safe? and removed from the building, police said.?Besides evacuating the dorm, police also cleared a nearby parking garage. Classes at the Orlando public university were cancelled in the morning, but resumed Monday afternoon. Authorities have not said what the student?s intentions may have been.?
The incident ? along with several campus shootings this year ? has fueled the debate about whether allowing guns on campus enhances or diminishes safety.
The push to allow people to carry concealed firearms on college campuses surged after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, in which 33 people were killed by a single shooter. Gun-rights advocates, such as the group Students for Concealed Carry, support overturning college gun bans.?
?If you had asked students the morning of the Virginia Tech shooting if they feel safe, I?m almost positive all of them would have said yes, but just a couple of hours later, those students found out that feeling safe is not the same as being safe,? David Burnett, a spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry, told The New York Times last month. ?And smaller crimes are as much a reason for self-defense as spree killings.?
A handful of colleges and universities allow guns on campus, but the University of Central Florida is not one of them. Florida is one of 21 states that ban carrying a concealed weapon on college campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In 23 states, the power to allow or ban guns on campus rests with the college and university administrations. Although those states allow people with permits to carry concealed weapons, university policy can prohibit guns from being carried on campus.
Five states have laws that allow concealed weapons on campus: Colorado, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin.
Utah is the only state that specifically prohibits public colleges from banning weapons on campus. The state?s 10 public higher-education institutions allow concealed weapons on campus.
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