But about a dozen students and others connected to Umpqua Community College in Roseburg said many students carried guns despite the campus ban and that this was common knowledge.

“You are allowed to conceal and carry on that campus,” said Umpqua student and part-time wildland firefighter Jeremy Smith, 24. “It’s not a gun-free zone.”

Smith said he would never return to campus without a handgun.

“I’m an avid gun owner,” he said. “I carry, like just about anybody else does.”

Although Oregon state law allows concealed weapons, Umpqua’s student handbook says firearms are prohibited on college property “except as expressly authorized by law or college regulations.”