Students to protest campus gun bans

I continue to find this issue interesting. Note the part about a nationwide campus demonstration that is being planned for next week.

The article below ran April 11 in the Colorado Springs Gazette:

Group wants to carry guns at UCCS

By BRIAN NEWSOME

THE GAZETTE

If a gunman were to burst into a classroom at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs with murder on his mind, one group of students wants a chance to shoot back.

But packing heat to class, even with a concealed-carry permit, is prohibited by CU (University of Colorado) policy and cause for expulsion.

Now, about a dozen UCCS students have joined a national and fast-growing group, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, whose goal is to lobby legislators and school administrators to allow their handguns in class.

"I carry because I'm a former Boy Scout, and the motto is ‘Always be prepared,'" said John Davis, 30, a UCCS senior who organized the local effort.

Both Colorado College and Pikes Peak Community College also ban guns regardless of permits, but students at those campuses have not objected to the policies, according to the schools.

"From my perspective, I certainly am an advocate for people's Second Amendment rights," said CU Regent Kyle Hybl, R-Colorado Springs. "I also think the issue of concealed carry on campus is one that needs to be looked at internally to see what's in the best interest of the campus."

Students at UCCS and CU-Boulder plan to participate in a nationwide protest April 22-25 in which they will wear empty holsters "to show we're basically defenseless when we come to school," Davis said. He said his group will use the event to educate other students about concealed carry permits. Students also will collect signatures on a petition that will be presented to the CU Board of Regents advocating a change in its gun policy.

Davis and other members of the group believe being armed in an incident like those at Virginia Tech or Columbine High School could save lives. The guns are concealed, he said, and having one in a classroom is no different than in a restaurant or a movie theater. His parents and other family members carry concealed weapons, he said.

But the CU policy came about because "there is a strong belief that having guns in classrooms is not conducive to an open environment or a learning environment," said UCCS spokesman Tom Hutton.

"There's an appropriate place for guns, and the classroom is not an appropriate place," Hutton said. Students with concealed carry permits are allowed to store their guns at the campus police station or lock them in their cars, he said.

A state law passed in 2003 allows concealed weapons to be carried in most parts of Colorado.

That same year, the Board of Regents sought an opinion on its weapons policy from the Attorney General's Office. Then-Attorney General Ken Salazar said the Colorado Constitution gave regents authorization to regulate their internal affairs and said there was no conflict in saying no to guns.

Davis said his group is talking to students at CU-Boulder and other campuses, including PPCC, about an effort to get state lawmakers to limit the regents' authority on the matter. Colorado State University allows people with concealed carry permits to bring their guns to class, according to the national Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Web site.

The group claims on its Web site, www.concealedcampus.org, to have recruited 25,000 members in the last year, mostly college students. It says it is not affiliated with the National Rifle Association or any political groups.

In identifying its mission, the group says: "The first step is to see ‘colleges' removed from the lists of places listed as ‘off limits' by the concealed carry laws in many states.

The next step is to see other states follow Utah's lead in prohibiting state (tax subsidized) colleges from enacting their own bans on concealed carry."

Supporters of allowing concealed handguns on campus are quick to point out the background checks and training required to obtain a permit, and they say concealed-carry permits have not led to more violence among those people.

Opponents point to the risks of guns ending up in the wrong hands or being misused.