Western Sydney University student proposes guns on campuses

The president of a university representative body has called for students to be encouraged to carry guns on campus as a response to US shootings.

Western Sydney University Student Representative Council President Daniel Bonatti recently moved a motion to support students’ right to ‘bear arms’.

‘Mass shootings in educational institutions and Universities in the USA is a daily occurrence,’ student newspaper W’SUP reported Mr Bonatti saying.

‘With SRC having collectives and equity groups the rooms provided for women, chaplain, praying rooms Christian and Muslim, queers and Indigenous are the frontline of being targeted.

‘Students need to have a right to keep and bear arms for self-defence … I, [Daniel Bonatti] move that: The Student Representative Council of Western Sydney University in principle supports the right to keep and bear arms.’

Students and staff at the American south east University of North Carolina were terrorised by a gunman in August who shot dead a member of faculty on the first day of a new term. 

In February three students were killed and five others injured in a mass shooting at Michigan State University in America’s north east.

There have also been a number of shootings reported at American high schools this year.

Sydney has seen a spate of fatal shootings on its streets especially in July, but police have linked these to a gangland war and none have taken place on a university campus. 

The Western Sydney University representative council voted unanimously to reject the proposal, including Romonda Eid, the seconder of the motion. 

She said her seconding was a mistake because she had misread the motion’s contents.

In opposing the motion, vice president Bayan Sohailee said that campuses should be kept ‘gun free’.

Another student representative Laine Fox said it was a ‘disgusting motion’.

‘I haven’t said anything disgusting,’ Mr Bonatti replied.

‘I’ve plainly put across a point of view that exists in a country with 330 million people, being the right to bear arms.’

Mr Bonatti continued to claim there were serious security risks at Bankstown campus, which have easy access to safe spaces such as the queer rooms and prayer rooms.

Western Sydney University’s Bankstown campus was singled out as being particularly at risk

A student embraces a family member at Shoultes Christian Assembly after being evacuated from Marysville-Pilchuck High School in the aftermath of a shooting on the high school’s campus in Marysville, Washington

However, other students called the idea ‘insane’. 

A spokesperson for the university told news.com.au they ‘take the safety of our students and staff seriously’.

‘All our campuses are patrolled by security around the clock, including our Bankstown City campus,’ the spokesperson said. 

‘The Student Representative Council has not raised any security concerns with the University about student safety at the Bankstown City campus. The University welcomes the opportunity to engage and address any concerns they may have.

‘Prayer rooms, LGBTIQ+ spaces and other facilities ensure students from a range of backgrounds belong and are safe here at the University.’