Number of Colleges Allowing Concealed Carry on Campus Doubles
Daniel of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus emails:
I don’t know if you have seen anything about this, but the number of colleges allowing concealed carry on campus has more than doubled this week. Especially as this has not received any media coverage, I feel that this is a substantial news issue that should be covered and would be of interest to your readers. I’ve gone into more detail about this below, but feel free to email or call me at the address below for any additional information.
Prior to this week, only twelve colleges in the entire nation explicitly allowed carry of a firearm: The ten public colleges of Utah, Blue Ridge Community College in Virginia and Colorado State University. Following a substantial ruling to remove the ban at the University of Colorado, the fourteen colleges in the Colorado Community College System (CCCS) voted to rescind their current ban and allow any licensed adult with a concealed carry permit to exercise that right while on campus. While I cannot find any direct news articles about it, you may link to the revised policy [here]
This action alone more than doubles the number of universities and colleges allowing concealed carry from twelve to twenty-six.
In addition, one of the two community colleges in Colorado not part of the CCCS, Aims Community College, has scheduled a meeting to make the same changes in their policies. You may view an article about [here]:
This dramatic shift follows in the wake of a ruling against a similar policy at the University of Colorado. Members of Students of Concealed Carry on Campus (Concealedcampus.org) and the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (Rmgo.org) originally filed suit against the University of Colorado claiming that state law preempted any governmental entity, including the Board of Governors, from banning concealed carry license holders from possessing a firearm on campus. While the initial ruling went against the firearms activists, it was reversed on appeal.
The Colorado State University (CSU) Board of Governors originally voted to reverse the long standing policy of allowing students with state-issues concealed carry permits to possess firearms on campus shortly after the initial ruling.
Over the last seven years while the policy had been in place, crime had rapidly decreased and not a single instance of gun misuse by a licensee has been reported. The new ban was opposed by CSUs student government, the county sheriff, the editorial boards of both the campus newspaper and the Colorado Springs Gazette, as well as more than 1,000 students who signed a petition against the ban in just a few short days. Larimer County Sheriff Jim Aberdeen, was so outraged by its passage that he told local media that he intended to undermine it by refusing to book violators of the ban into his jail, which the CSU police department utilizes for arrests. In the wake of the recent ruling however, Colorado State University has reversed it’s ban on firearms.
This issue will likely continue to be fought in court. For the time being however, it appears that some Colorado students and faculty will be allowed an option for self defense and that some criminals will no longer have a governmental guarantee that their potential victims will be unarmed.
May 12th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Add Michigan State. They rescinded their ban and built a indoor shooting range in the same year about a year ago.
State law still disallows carry in dorms and classrooms though. Most of the campus is legal, and the campus is measured in square miles.
Southwest Michigan Community College allows CCW too.
May 12th, 2010 at 11:16 am
Yesterday, the Colorado Community College system reversed its (illegal) prohibition on carry by permit holders.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Coming soon to a State U. near you, hopefully. Hopeful for legislative progress in Texas in 2011, expanding CHLs to campus. Hope they fend off weasely employee conduct rules that would continue to ban carry by faculty and staff as a condition of employment. IIRC, The last bill in 2009 had such protections, thank goodness.
May 12th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Add Portland Community College in Portland, OR. I don’t know if they have made this explicit anywhere, but a management official confirmed that students and employees (including faculty) with carry permits are allowed to carry their weapons on campus. The official emphasized that they want those weapons to be concealed.
Amazing in this quite liberal town, but true nonetheless.
May 12th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
As a former Colorado State University-Pueblo English professor who used to carry on campus, I am enjoying the heck out of these developments. 🙂
May 12th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
I believe that all of the public universities and colleges in Washington State allow concealed carry by default. No concealed weapon can be carried onto primary or secondary school premises (public or private), the law appears to be silent with regard to colleges and universities. That is also the understanding of some of the professors I know at the University of Washington.
May 12th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
I wonder what is going to happen in Arizona (ASU and UofA) now that there is no permit required.
May 12th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
We are currently challenging the Regent’s carry ban on the University of Alaska campuses. Given the similarity to Colorado I think we’ll win, though we are trying to avoid going to court if possible.
For now we’re not broadcasting the permitless aspect, just saying “in line with state law”.
No reason to get the Mother’s of America riled up unnecessarily. We can reattack on that issue and a couple others after we get the ban itself removed.
May 12th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
Sadly, that’s not quite the case. Virtually all of them ban it via administrative rule, which means that a non-student found carrying can be asked to leave (but not charged with any crime or infraction) but a student may face further sanctions up to and including expulsion.
May 12th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Nothing surprising about PCC in Portland allowing concealed carry. Our most active and popular college gun club in town is the Reed Shooting Sports Kollectiv at Reed College which is frequently cited as one of the most liberal campuses in the country.
Ross Eliot, editor
AGCR
May 12th, 2010 at 10:26 pm
I know a lot of liberals in the country (Upper Peninsula of Michigan) who are pro-gun and pro-concealed carry. Not necessarily crazy, but not the majority 🙁
May 13th, 2010 at 8:54 am
It is State Code that no weapons are allowed on Washington State campuses.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=106-124-700