Legal Commentary

Colorado State University board rescinds ban on licensed firearms carry

By David Kopel

The ban at the Fort Collins and Pueblo campuses, had been scheduled to take effect on August 1. The prospective ban had been imposed last winter, by a unanimous vote of the Governing Board, and against the express vote of the Student Senate. Congratulations to Rocky Mountain Gun Owners for bringing the case.

As the CSU spokesperson explained, the Governing Board really had no choice, in light of the recent Court of Appeals ruling in Students for Concealed Carry on Campus v. Regents of the University of Colorado. There, the unanimous three-judge panel ruled that Colorado?s Concealed Handgun Act, which is explicitly preemptive, had no implicit exception for state institutions of higher education. The University of Colorado has not yet announced whether it will petition the Colorado Supreme Court for certiorari in that case.

At the Fort Collins campus, firearms carry licensees (who must be 21 years or older, under Colorado law) had carried without incident ever since the enactment of the Concealed Handgun Act in 2003. The Fort Collins campus, which is the larger CSU campus, is located in north-central Colorado, in Larimer County. Sheriff James A. Alderden strongly opposed the CSU ban, said it was illegal, and announced that his deputies would not waste time arresting anyone for violating the Board?s ban on licensed carry. Colorado?s Concealed Handgun Act is modeled on licensing policies which Sheriff Alderden has been using in Larimer County since the 1990s.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on May 05, 2010 (boomark / email).