Colorado Supreme Court weighs challenge to CU campus gun ban

University's gun ban deemed unlawful last year by state appeals court
BY BRITTANY ANAS, CAMERA STAFF WRITER
Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado)
Updated: 06-9-2011 1:35 pm

DENVER -- Attorneys on both sides of the University of Colorado's gun ban argued before the Colorado Supreme Court on Wednesday, and officials expect the justices to rule on the matter within a few months.

Last year, the CU regents voted 5-4 to appeal to the state's highest court in an effort to overturn a Colorado Court of Appeals decision that the university violated state law by banning concealed weapons from its campuses.

Appeals court judges ruled that the Concealed Carry Act of 2003 -- a state law that prohibits local municipalities from adopting concealed-weapons bans -- does apply to universities.

CU attorney Patrick O'Rourke argued before the Supreme Court justices Wednesday that the act clearly applies to cities and counties -- not CU's campuses.


The Legislature "explicitly made clear the scope of what they meant by local government," O'Rourke said.
CU system spokesman Ken McConnellogue, following the oral arguments, said the issue goes beyond whether having guns on campus is a good or bad thing. He said university attorneys have made a strong argument that the regents are best fit to govern CU's campuses.
Jim Manley, who represented Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, argued that CU campuses aren't exempt from the Concealed Carry Act. To obtain a concealed-weapon permit in Colorado, applicants must be at least 21 and undergo an extensive background check.

"They've been judged to be safe anywhere in the state," Manley said of permit holders. "They don't become unsafe when they step onto a university campus."


The Utah Supreme Court ruled in 2006 that colleges are not an exception to that state's law allowing concealed weapons on state property.

The CU Board of Regents banned weapons in 1970 and, in 1994, strengthened the policy requiring that students be expelled and employees be fired if found guilty of using a weapon to "intimidate, harass, injure or otherwise interfere with the learning and working environment of the university."

Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs pointed to ambiguity in the regent policy, saying it sounds as though permit holders can carry concealed guns but not pull them out.

Students for Concealed Carry on Campus brought the case against CU, saying the university is violating students' and employees' Second Amendment rights by not allowing those with permits to carry guns on campus.


CU officials -- and a slim majority of regents -- say guns have no place on a college campus. Tillie Bishop, R-Grand Junction, sided with Democrats on the board in directing the school to appeal because he said the case goes beyond the issue of guns on campus and is about regents' authority when it comes to setting rules for CU's campuses.
On CU's Boulder campus Wednesday, students had split opinions about whether guns should be allowed.

"This is a learning environment," said Yesenia Delgado, a psychology and ethnic studies junior from Denver. "I don't see why anybody would need to bring a gun to campus."

Delgado said she'd feel uncomfortable if a class discussion got heated and there was a possibility that her fellow students in the lecture hall were carrying loaded guns.


But Ethan Storeng, a CU junior anthropology and psychology student from Grand Junction, said that by banning guns, the university is vulnerable to violent attacks.

"It's basically like putting up a sign that says, 'We're all unarmed," he said.


Storeng recently finished a handgun certification class and said he expects to have a permit within a year. His father convinced him to pursue the permit as a personal safety measure, he said.


The university shouldn't worry about permit holders, Storeng said, because they have taken the mandatory legal steps to prove that they'll be responsible gun owners.


"Those aren't the people perpetrating attacks like Columbine," he said.


CU junior finance student Maya Thayer, of Parker, said she generally feels safe on the Boulder campus and sees no reason for students and employees to be able to carry guns.
"Who's to say somebody couldn't grab it from your purse?" she said.