North Dakota State University students who are hunters will soon have a secure place on campus to store their firearms andbows. On Thursday, Oct. 14, at 10 a.m., NDSU will officially open a storagesite for arms and ammunition for use by on-campus student residents only.

“Although we have a ‘no weapons’ policy on the NDSU campus, we also have a number of students who live on campus and use various firearms and bows for sporting purposes,” explained Ray Boyer, director of the University Police and Safety Office. “We want to provide the students with secure storage so they can enjoy hunting or target practice on weekends or when they are not in class.”

According to Boyer, students will be able to utilize the storage site 24 hours per day, seven days per week. Only cased,unloaded weapons will be accepted, and only when transported by vehicle to the storage site in accordance with procedures.

Currently, Boyer said students sometimes place hunting equipment in their locked cars in campus parking lots. He said that practices becomes a safety issue if a vehicle is burglarized.

“Every year, we have numerous vehicle break-ins and I am concerned about the criminals who commit these crimes gaining access to a student’s hunting firearm that is being otherwise legally stored in the vehicle,” Boyer said. “The safest and most prudent option for us is to store the item for the students when they live on campus. A storage site will get more of the hunting gear out of areas where criminals are known tooperate and still allows students to enjoy their off-campus sports without placing them in violation of policy.”