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LAW FIRM PRAISES UNIVERSITY DECISION ON CONCEALED CARRYMay 11, 2010 - For Immediate Release
May 5, 2010 – DENVER, CO. A nonprofit, public-interest law firm that prevailed before the Colorado Court of Appeals regarding the applicability of the Colorado Concealed Carry Act (CCA) today praised a decision by Colorado State University (CSU) System Board of Governors to rescind its plans to ban those holding concealed carry permits from carrying on campus. Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF), which represents a national organization (Students for Concealed Carry on Campus) and three of its members, won an April 15, 2010, ruling over the University of Colorado (CU), when the court’s three-judge panel overturned an April 2009 ruling by an El Paso County state district court that CU’s ban on carrying on campus is legal and constitutional. The appeals court held that Colorado’s 2003 CCA bars local regulations, such as those by CU, that conflict with the Act and that the CU ban, as it applies to guns in vehicles is unconstitutional. The case returns to the district court. “We are delighted by the decision of Colorado State University in light of the ruling by the Court of Appeals,” said William Perry Pendley, president of MSLF. “The Court of Appeals said it best when it held, ‘Had the legislature intended to exempt universities, it knew how to do so.’ Hereafter, there can be no question as to what the law is in Colorado.” Colorado’s Concealed Carry Act, C.R.S. § 18-12-201, requires concealed handgun permit applicants to undergo an extensive background check to ensure they have no history of substance abuse or criminal activity, are not subject to a protection order, and have demonstrated competency with a handgun. Applicants must be over 21 years of age and must carry firearms completely out of sight. If the local Sheriff concludes that a permit holder is dangerous, the Sheriff may deny or cancel a permit; fewer than 1 percent of permits issued in Colorado have been revoked. The Act has only four exceptions to the right to carry: locations prohibited by federal law; K-12 schools; public buildings with metal detectors; and private property. The lawsuit charges that CU Regents are among the local governments prohibited specifically from adopting conflicting regulations. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that CU’s ban is so broad that it violates the Colorado Constitution, which protects the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense. The students, adults who are trained and licensed to carry a handgun nearly everywhere in Colorado, argue that the state concealed carry law gives them the right to carry on campus. Given the Virginia Tech tragedy, as well as shootings at Northern Illinois University and New Life Church in Colorado Springs, campuses are exactly where students who qualify under Colorado’s CCA believe they need to be able to carry firearms. Mountain States Legal Foundation, founded in 1977, is a nonprofit, public-interest law firm dedicated to individual liberty, the right to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and economic freedom. Its offices are in suburban Denver, Colorado. Students for Concealed Carry on Campus v. CU Board of Regents, No. 09CA1230 (Colo.App.) |
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Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) is a nonprofit,
public interest legal foundation dedicated to individual liberty, the right
to own and use property, limited and ethical government, and economic freedom. It is an Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3) entity
incorporated in the State of Colorado. Csontributions
to Mountain States Legal Foundation are tax deductible. [Mission] [Press
Releases] [Legal Cases] [Legal
Assistance ] |
