Face the State

Face The State Staff Report

The faces of a lawsuit challenging the University of Colorado's gun ban are not what one might expect. While anti-gun activists may paint them as "just a bunch of drunks who are going to shoot each other," the three plaintiffs taking on their university paint a very different picture.

Martha Altman, a student at CU-Denver, has returned to college after raising a son to earn her degree in business management and health care administration. She takes classes on the Auraria Campus and works at the Anschutz Medical Center in Aurora, which Altman says is "not in a nice neighborhood." Altman also said she is considering taking a class next semester that lets out at after dark at 6:45 p.m. "I'd rather have my gun with me and not need it," she added, frustrated that despite the fact that she has a concealed carry permit issued by Douglas County, she is forbidden from carrying her gun on campus.

Altman is not alone in wanting to defend her personal safety while at school. Fellow plaintiff John Davis, a student at CU-Colorado Springs, said he also knows what it is like not to feel safe on campus. Davis used to work at the Colorado Springs University Center. One night when he was closing the building and clearing it out, Davis found two men hiding in a women's restroom. He counts himself lucky the men left when asked but questions what would have happened if they’d attacked him instead.

Davis is senior studying geography and environmental studies. He has more than 20 years of experience with firearms, including 12 years in the military as a rifle and pistol marksmanship instructor. Davis believes his background, coupled with his concealed carry permit, more than qualify him to responsibly carry a concealed firearm on campus.

CU has maintained a weapons ban since 1970. In 2003, the ban was strengthened after former Attorney General and now U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat, issued a formal opinion that the CU ban eclipsed the Colorado Concealed Carry Act, legislation passed earlier that year that allowed for licensed individuals to carry a concealed weapon in most other parts of the state.

CU Regent Michael Carrigan says he supports Salazar's position on the issue. "This decision is left to the discretion of the Board of Regents," he said. "That is why we have an elected board."

All three plaintiffs are members of the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

Plaintiff Eric Mote, who graduated from CU-Colorado Springs in May with a degree in electrical and computer engineering, is not new to the fight for concealed carry on campus. In August, he testified before the CU Board of Regents as an SCCC representative urging them to take up the issue. The Boulder Daily Camera reported Mote's testimony before the board was “so antagonistic that he even lost the support of the one regent who publicly agreed with the principle of his argument.”

But Mote disputes the account. “I think the regents were more receptive to my proposal than the Daily Camera,” he said.

*The original version of this story indicated Altman took classes on the Anschutz Medical Campus and was currently enrolled in a class that let out at 6:45 p.m. She informed us that she works on the Anschutz Medical Campus, and is only considering taking a class that lets out at 6:45 p.m. Face The State regrets the error.