The Collegian

Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: Beyond

This summer the United States Supreme Court overruled a gun ban in Washington, D.C., allowing residents to possess handguns within city limits.

This ruling caused sudden changes to similar bans throughout the country, from Chicago to San Francisco, but it hasn't altered how Hillsdale College approaches weapons.

"We haven't changed the [weapons] policy at all," said Mike Wertz, director of campus security. "The only real actual policy we have is the forbidden items policy."

Some students were disappointed the Supreme Court ruling didn't change administrator's minds about weapons in dorms.

"At this school I'd trust my Hillsdale classmates [more than I would] at other schools," senior Fritz Nuffer said.

The forbidden items, considered potentially harmful, are listed in the student handbook and range from the obvious, like shotguns, to the obscure, such as nunchaku.

Students are not allowed to carry or store a forbidden item within a residence hall or any other campus building.

However, students can keep one in the trunk of a car, or they can opt to register the weapon with Campus Security.

"If it shoots a round, we want to provide you with a safe storage area," said Wertz.

The registration program allows students to store their weapons in a climate-controlled safe kept behind a cage in Fowler Maintenance Building.

Now, only Wertz can open the safe.

The registration process is thorough but painless. Among other things, it requires the student the record the make, model and serial number of the weapon.

"It's not invasive, totally not invasive," said Wertz.

The problems with registering weapons begin with knives and swords. Both double-edged blades and large knives are banned in campus dorms. And some knives are even banned in Michigan.

"A lot of folks don't realize that a switchblade is illegal in the state of Michigan. There's only one person who can posses that type of knife legally," Wertz said, "and that's a one-armed man."

Wertz said that the security office isn't on an active hunt for knives and swords, "but if they are brought to our attention," Wertz said, "then yes, we do take a look at it; and nine out of 10 times I just ask the folks to send it home or put it away."

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