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Public Employee? Does that mean....

mcalvert

New member
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Messages
10
Location
Waterloo, Iowa
I recently had a conversation with an instructor from UNI and she had told me that because of her employment at UNI, she is a public employee. Which tells me the entire campus is public property. So this has brought up a couple of questions:

1. Do colleges and universities fall under the same definition of school as defined by 724.4B (http://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/cool-ice/default.asp?category=billinfo&service=iowacode&ga=83&input=724.4B)

2. If 1 is a no, then wouldn't the three state universities(ISU,U of I, UNI) have to abide by 724.28 (http://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-ICE/default.asp?category=billinfo&service=IowaCode&ga=83&input=724.28)
 

Darkshadow62988

Activist Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
238
Location
Iowa
I recently had a conversation with an instructor from UNI and she had told me that because of her employment at UNI, she is a public employee. Which tells me the entire campus is public property. So this has brought up a couple of questions:

1. Do colleges and universities fall under the same definition of school as defined by 724.4B (http://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/cool-...=billinfo&service=iowacode&ga=83&input=724.4B)

2. If 1 is a no, then wouldn't the three state universities(ISU,U of I, UNI) have to abide by 724.28 (http://coolice.legis.iowa.gov/Cool-...=billinfo&service=IowaCode&ga=83&input=724.28)

1. I was part of a short discussion when this was discussed a few years ago right before the change to shall issue on the Iowa Firearms Coalition forum. The Iowa Administrative Code(which acts as law in this context) specifically prohibits the carrying of any dangerous weapon the the grounds of the colleges and universities in Iowa.

2. I get what you're saying and would agree, but that's just my opinion and IANAL so until there's a ruling clarifying that the three regent universities are political subdivisions then 724.28 wouldn't apply. If you look at how the law breaks down(Titles, subtitles, chapters, etc.) you can see how the argument that schools and colleges/universities aren't the same is an easy one to make. But if you take a look at our AG's opinion on 724.28, how it affects home rule and our state motto you'll see why reason doesn't seem to mean much here in the good old state of Iowa.
 

Brian D.

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 27, 2007
Messages
937
Location
Cincy area, Ohio, USA
Hello. We're working on more or less the same issue here in Ohio. We have a strong statewide preemption law that applies to all "political subdivisions" but those publicly-funded universities argue that they are something else. Meantime OPEN carry is not illegal and there's no ramifications to non-students and non-faculty, so we did a couple of OC Educatonal walks across the campuses of the Univ. of Cincinnati, and Ohio State Univ.

There's also a lawsuit in progress against OSU but since the gun rights group behind it doesn't have a billion dollars lying around to expedite it, I suspect I won't live long enough to see a successful conclusion to the thing.
 

mcalvert

New member
Joined
Oct 2, 2014
Messages
10
Location
Waterloo, Iowa
Ok I have read the portion on firearms... I am assuming that the campus is public property...by that assumption how can an individual be reprimanded on public property without the individual committing a CRIME.

Side note the Regents want to protect the First Amendment but do not recognize the Second
 

Darkshadow62988

Activist Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2010
Messages
238
Location
Iowa
Ok I have read the portion on firearms... I am assuming that the campus is public property...by that assumption how can an individual be reprimanded on public property without the individual committing a CRIME.

Side note the Regents want to protect the First Amendment but do not recognize the Second

It's a gamble. There are reports of people with firearms being arrested for possession of a firearm on campus, but I've yet to find any records of any actual prosecutions for it.
 
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