"Alabama Senate committee blocks campus gun bills"

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MONTGOMERY -- A state senator, motivated by deadly campus shootings in Virginia and Illinois, drew opposition from Alabama higher education officials and got nowhere with his bills to allow professors and some students to carry guns on Alabama campuses.

The Senate Education Committee split largely along party lines Wednesday when it voted down the bills by Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo. Republicans mostly supported the bills, and Democrats were united in their opposition.

"I gave it my best shot, and the committee, representing the people of Alabama, said no," Erwin said after the votes.

Erwin began working on his bills last April after a gunman at Virginia Tech killed 32 people. He increased his push after a suicidal gunman killed five people at Northern Illinois University in February.

Alabama's public universities, like most colleges around the country, ban guns on campus. . . . .