Students and visitors on campuses throughout Colorado may soon be allowed to carry concealed weapons.
The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that a gun ban set in place by CU Regents in 1970 and re-enacted in 1994 violates state laws, including the Concealed Carry Act (CCA) as well as the Colorado Constitution’s Right to Keep and Bear Arms Clause, according to the opinion of the Court of Appeals.
CU Regents originally set the gun ban in place stating that the ability to carry guns on campus “is inconsistent with the University’s academic mission and seriously undermines it,” and that it “contributes to an unacceptable climate of violence.”
Those who are exceptions to the ban are peace officers or others who have written permission from either the chief of police or from the chancellor, according to the Court of Appeals opinion.
The opinion details the case of student-plaintiffs Martha Altman, Eric Mote and John Davis, along with the Students for Concealed Carry Campus group, who appealed the gun ban on the grounds that it violated state laws, and all three residing judges agreed.
Some of the biggest concerns debated between the parties was the fact that the original statute did not list universities as exceptions in locations for the ban, as it does for public elementary schools, middle schools and high schools and that the statute was lacking specificity.
Ken McConnellogue, the Associate Vice President of University Relations, said the reenactment of the ban was set in place because of the Auraria campus in Denver.
“[The re-enactment] was primarily done for issues related to Auraria campus,” McConnellogue said.
Managing University Council Patrick O’Rourke, who represented the university and the regents, says he will continue to represent both parties and is unsure if the decision to appeal will be made.
“It’s too early for us to say, we need to look at the case law to determine whether it’s the right step to appeal legally,” O’Rourke said. “Until we actually take a step back and see what all the options are we won’t know.”
The Regents have 45 days to decide whether or not appeal the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court. In the meantime, McConnellogue said that the student response has been less than substantial.
“I haven’t heard about any kind of wide pread student opinion on either side, but it’s still early on and people are digesting the ruling,” he said.
Kim Moore, 21, a junior integrative physiology major, said she thinks guns on campus would do more harm than good.
“I think concealed weapons on campus is a horrible idea,” Moore said. “If that’s going to be the case, then they’d have to allow them at football games and think how people get riled up at those events.”
Moore said she believes that if people are concerned about self-defense, guns in lock boxes in classrooms could be a potential solution.
“There should just be a concealed weapon in classrooms locked up,” she said. “Maybe the professors could take gun safety classes. Campus is pretty safe but you never know.”
McConnellogue said for administration, the possibility of people carrying concealed weapons is a small part of a larger picture.
“For us it’s not always been an issue not just about whether guns should or should not be allowed on campuses,” he said. “It’s an issue about the autonomy of the board of the regents to make decisions on how the university is best run.”
O’Rourke said he also believes that the focus of the case should rest more on the issue of questioning the decisions of the Regents rather than the potential to carry concealed.
“This was much less of an issue to have guns on campus than to reinforce that the regents are in the best positions to make the decisions about the campuses because that’s what they’ve been elected to do,” O’Rourke said.
Stephen Shattuck, a 20 year-old sophomore civil engineering major, said that the gun ban is not truly preventing someone from acting violently on campus and affords students the opportunity to defend themselves.
“I feel like if someone was going to bring a weapon on campus to harm people they would do it with or without a gun ban,” Shattuck said. “Lifting the gun ban will allow people with a concealed weapon to protect themselves and those around them as long as they carry their weapon in a professional manner and keep it concealed and follow the laws with carrying a concealed weapon.”
McConnellogue said he was unsure of what the future effects of additional rulings on the case might have on the daily life of students.
“Virtually everywhere else across the nation weapons are banned on university campuses,” he said. “They have not been banned up to now at CSU. I suppose you could look at them as somewhat of a test case, but it’s hard to tell because we would be the exception and not the norm.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sarah Simmons at Sarah.e.simmons@colorado.edu.
