The Maryland Legislature failed to pass a bill in April that would have prevented students, faculty and visitors from bringing guns to campus, even if they have permits.

The state Senate and House of Delegates could not agree on a Senate amendment to the bill before the 2017 legislative session ended on April 10. After a session closes, unpassed bills die without reaching the governor’s desk for a signature.

If the bill had become law, it would have applied to all college campuses in Maryland. Under current law, each school’s officials may decide whether to restrict weapons on campus.

AACC’s policy already prohibits guns, knives and other weapons on any of its campuses or off-campus property, except for use by police.

In fact, all Maryland colleges forbid guns on campus already, so the bill would have simply made the practice official, according to the bill’s sponsor, Delegate Ben Barnes, a Democrat who represents Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties.

AACC’s Police Chief Sean Kapfhammer said the proposed law would not have affected campus police.

If the law had passed, violating it would have been a criminal offense punishable by a $1,000 fine and up to three years in prison.

Barnes said he wanted to pass the bill because guns on campus can lead to student suicides.

“We know that 18- to 24-year-olds have a nine times greater chance of … committing suicide,” he said. “We know that suicides with guns have an 85 percent mortality rate, as opposed to … 15 percent without a gun.”

Barnes introduced the bill last year, but it failed to pass through the Senate.

Doug Burnett, the outreach and public relations director for the campus club Young Americans for Liberty, said any effort promoting gun control is flawed.

“You have a right to self-defense. … It is in the Constitution,” Burnett said.