COLUMBUS, Ohio - The basement of the ROTC building is the only location on The Ohio State University campus where a student can legally fire a gun. But one group wants to change that and give licensed students the right to carry firearms anywhere on school grounds.

Students For Concealed Carry on Campus is an organization that wants colleges and universities removed from a list of places where laws prohibit licensed citizens from carrying weapons.

According to its Web site, the group is comprised of about 7,500 citizens, students and faculty who "support the legalization of concealed carry by licensed individuals on college campuses."

Mark Noble, who is associated with the Buckeye Firearms Association, said achieving that goal would start with changing state law, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported.

"In Ohio we would have to get the state law changed," Noble said. "Ohio is one of the few states that outright prohibits concealed carry on campus."

Despite that challenge, Noble said the right to carry a weapon should not stop at the campus border.

"Why should we prohibit people from exercising their rights, except for this imaginary line?" he said.

In other states, it is up to individual schools to decide, but under Ohio law, schools do not make that decision.

Currently, Utah is the only state in the country that allows licensed students to carry concealed weapons on school grounds. But after the shootings at Virginia Tech University, some experts said a concealed carry law may have reduced the number of casualties, Landers reported.

Following a week in which Ohio State police issued two crime alerts and investigated several assaults near and around campus, students had mixed opinions on the issue of concealed carry.

"With the recent crime I think it's something that should be looked at," one student said.

"If the school prefers not to have them on campus I support it," said another student. "I just don't think it's a good idea."

Teresa Meyer, an Ohio State senior and Olympic hopeful pistol shooter, told 10TV News that she supports the movement to give licensed individuals the right to carry weapons on campus.

"The police get there after the fact you are robbed, after you've been taken, after you've been raped or after you've been murdered," Meyer said. "What are you going to do to stop that from happening?"

Ohio State Police Chief Rick Amweg said the idea does not always work.

"Quite frequently those weapons are taken away from those who hold them and used against them," he said.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus has yet to file any paperwork needed to change Ohio law, Landers reported.

Stay with 10TV News and refresh 10TV.com for additional information.