Face the State Staff Report
A lawsuit challenging the University of Colorado's gun ban is slowly making its way through the courts. The outcome of the case may not only determine the fate of CU's policy, but Colorado State University's as well. CSU has put its plans to develop a campus-specific handgun policy on hold until the lawsuit against CU is resolved, continuing for the time being to allow concealed weapons on campus in accordance with state law.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, or SCCC, filed a lawsuit in December against the University of Colorado over a handgun ban that prohibits students with state-issued concealed carry permits from possessing their weapons on campus. According to the group's lawyer, Jim Manley of Mountain States Legal Foundation, CU filed a motion to dismiss on January 30, which the students opposed on February 17.
"After the 13th [of March], the court will likely schedule a hearing," Manley told Face the State. "Following that, the court will issue a ruling on the motion to dismiss it or allow the case to move forward. We think the motion to dismiss is frivolous and we will overcome that and continue with the lawsuit."
At a December meeting, the Faculty Council at CSU adopted a resolution to draft a proposed weapons policy on the campus. Currently, CSU has no formal policy regarding weapons or concealed carry on campus, except to prohibit weapons in dorms and student apartments.
"The reason for re-evaluating the weapons policy was an apparent internal conflict in CSU's internal policies," wrote Richard Eykholt, chair of the CSU Faculty Council, in an e-mail to Face the State. "The current stated policy is that we defer to the requirements of the state and local governments. This would allow persons with concealed carry permits to have guns on campus. However, the current wording of the student conduct code is a bit unclear, and it seemed to prohibit students from having weapons on campus. These two official policies seemed to be in conflict."
Eykholt said the council is only pushing for an evaluation of current policies and has not yet declared a position either way on the ban.
"We simply recommended that a committee be formed with representation from the various constituencies on campus to examine the current situation and make a recommendation to the administration on an official policy with no internal conflicts," Eykholt continued.
The Faculty Council's resolution to examine the weapons policy was made on Dec. 2, a week prior to the CU lawsuit filed on Dec. 11.
"The recommendation to come up with a weapons policy occurred before the recent lawsuit, so that lawsuit played no role in this recommendation," said Eykholt. " However, since there is now a lawsuit, and the ruling in this lawsuit could set a legal precedent, it seems prudent to wait for the resolution of this lawsuit before coming up with our weapons policy."
SCCC President Mike Guzman thinks the CU lawsuit has drawn media attention to CSU's deference to state law, and in a sense, corners CSU into creating an anti-gun policy.
"I think that the CU lawsuit brought to light an oversight on the lack of policy at CSU, and is causing for a push [for a] ban," Guzman told Face the State. "We are against any type of restrictions on people being allowed to defend themselves if they are licensed and certified by the state."