Colorado Court of Appeals Affirms Right to Carry on Campus

[JimMullinsWVCDL]

Today, a 3-judge panel of the Colorado Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that concealed handgun permit holders have the right to carry on state college and university campuses without restriction, except in secure restricted access areas. The court's decision in Students for Concealed Carry on Campus v. Regents of the University of Colorado deals primarily with issues of Colorado law and state statutory construction.

Unless CU wins on an appeal to the Colorado Supreme Court, which I consider unlikely, Colorado will become the second state (after neighboring Utah) in which state colleges and universities will be barred from disarming CHP holders. Note that in both Colorado and Utah, colleges campuses are included within state "gun-free schools" laws, but both exempot CHP holders (however, in Colorado, the CHP exemption is only for colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions, while Utah's law allows concealed firearm permit holders to carry anywhere in school property without restriction).

For more, read:

• Denver Post
• Volokh Conspiracy

 

[colt4me]

nice to know

 

[rayven]

Good to know!

My home state (PA) doesn't have a college-grounds exemption, so it is legal here already. I don't understand why some states would have people carrying concealed in some places, but not in others.

Those kinds of laws basically create a target-rich environment for those who want to go on a shooting spree.

 

[JimMullinsWVCDL]

Good to know!

My home state (PA) doesn't have a college-grounds exemption, so it is legal here already. I don't understand why some states would have people carrying concealed in some places, but not in others.

Those kinds of laws basically create a target-rich environment for those who want to go on a shooting spree.

Colorado (if last week's decision is affirmed by the Colorado Supreme Court) and Utah are actually the best states on campus carry because their courts have ruled that not only is campus carry legal as a matter of state law, but state colleges and universities may not use their myriad rulemaking powers to impose any type of restriction on otherwise lawful concealed carry on campus.

 

[NDS]

If only other states could have the sense to follow suit.