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Pro-gun students push for right to openly carry firearms on U. campus
By Brian Maffly
The Salt Lake Tribune[/url]
Article Last Updated:12/07/2007 06:35:25 AM MST
A pro-gun student group is gearing up to again challenge the University of Utah on its weapons policies, this time seeking approval for what they view as their right to openly carry weapons on campus.
U. administrators are "circumventing the Legislature" and creating their own laws, allege members of Second Amendment Students of Utah, who want to meet with U. officials to hash out their diametrically opposed positions on Utah gun laws.
"Guns have been vilified. We are lucky we live in a state where open carry is still legal," said group member Thomas McCrory, a U. accounting major. "It's a rare thing and it should be preserved."
McCrory's concealed weapons permit allows him to be armed on campus, but he risks expulsion if he were to wear his handgun openly under the university's interpretation of a statute that specifically bars firearms on school campuses.
"There is an exception for concealed-weapon permit holders. That does not mean a permit holder can carry a weapon openly," said U. general counsel John Morris, citing a supportive opinion from the office of Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Morris declined to get into the specifics of the opinion, which he said is subject to client-attorney privilege.
"The letter concluded that we are legally permitted to prohibit the open carrying of weapons on campus," Morris said. "Unless the attorney general says we're wrong, we're going to continue to prohibit open carry on campus."
U. administrators earlier this year resolved a long stand-off with lawmakers over whether public universities could ban weapons subject to valid concealed-carry permits. After losing in the Utah Supreme Court, U. leaders agreed to a legislative "compromise" in which concealed weapons are allowed everywhere on campus, with "exceptions" for secure hearing rooms and dorm rooms of students who prefer living with roommates who are not licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
But gun-rights advocates are not yet ready to declare victory and call for peace.
"I am not a huge flag waver for open carry, however, your concealed carry
permit does not require you to conceal your firearm," said Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council. "Utah law is that Utahns may openly carry firearms . . . When someone tells me I can't do something that I know I can, I'm going to argue with them."
Pro-gun students contend openly carried guns are a matter of personal comfort and should not be construed as a menace.
"I don't open carry to make a political statement. Whether I open carry has more to do with the weather. Where it's a hot day I would open carry. On a day like today, I would carry it under my coat," said McCrory, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair and arms himself for personal protection.
"I would hope that if someone sees a gun, they would come to the rational conclusion that if this person is intent to do harm, he wouldn't be carrying a gun for everyone to see. When I see someone with a gun I think here is one of the good guys who has gone through the class and the background checks."
U. officials see it differently.
"Openly carrying weapons in an academic environment is going to make people very nervous," Morris said. "As an academic matter, it's a bad idea."
An ardent gun-rights lobbyist, Aposhian said he does not envision seeking legislation to force the U. to embrace open carry because he believes Utah law clearly allows it.
"I'm not immune to [the U.'s] concerns," he said. "That's why I say let's sit down and chat about it."
---
* BRIAN MAFFLY can be reached at 891-257-2089 or bmaffly@sltrib.com.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_7658204
Pro-gun students push for right to openly carry firearms on U. campus
By Brian Maffly
The Salt Lake Tribune[/url]
Article Last Updated:12/07/2007 06:35:25 AM MST
A pro-gun student group is gearing up to again challenge the University of Utah on its weapons policies, this time seeking approval for what they view as their right to openly carry weapons on campus.
U. administrators are "circumventing the Legislature" and creating their own laws, allege members of Second Amendment Students of Utah, who want to meet with U. officials to hash out their diametrically opposed positions on Utah gun laws.
"Guns have been vilified. We are lucky we live in a state where open carry is still legal," said group member Thomas McCrory, a U. accounting major. "It's a rare thing and it should be preserved."
McCrory's concealed weapons permit allows him to be armed on campus, but he risks expulsion if he were to wear his handgun openly under the university's interpretation of a statute that specifically bars firearms on school campuses.
"There is an exception for concealed-weapon permit holders. That does not mean a permit holder can carry a weapon openly," said U. general counsel John Morris, citing a supportive opinion from the office of Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Morris declined to get into the specifics of the opinion, which he said is subject to client-attorney privilege.
"The letter concluded that we are legally permitted to prohibit the open carrying of weapons on campus," Morris said. "Unless the attorney general says we're wrong, we're going to continue to prohibit open carry on campus."
U. administrators earlier this year resolved a long stand-off with lawmakers over whether public universities could ban weapons subject to valid concealed-carry permits. After losing in the Utah Supreme Court, U. leaders agreed to a legislative "compromise" in which concealed weapons are allowed everywhere on campus, with "exceptions" for secure hearing rooms and dorm rooms of students who prefer living with roommates who are not licensed to carry a concealed weapon.
But gun-rights advocates are not yet ready to declare victory and call for peace.
"I am not a huge flag waver for open carry, however, your concealed carry
permit does not require you to conceal your firearm," said Clark Aposhian, chairman of the Utah Shooting Sports Council. "Utah law is that Utahns may openly carry firearms . . . When someone tells me I can't do something that I know I can, I'm going to argue with them."
Pro-gun students contend openly carried guns are a matter of personal comfort and should not be construed as a menace.
"I don't open carry to make a political statement. Whether I open carry has more to do with the weather. Where it's a hot day I would open carry. On a day like today, I would carry it under my coat," said McCrory, a paraplegic who uses a wheelchair and arms himself for personal protection.
"I would hope that if someone sees a gun, they would come to the rational conclusion that if this person is intent to do harm, he wouldn't be carrying a gun for everyone to see. When I see someone with a gun I think here is one of the good guys who has gone through the class and the background checks."
U. officials see it differently.
"Openly carrying weapons in an academic environment is going to make people very nervous," Morris said. "As an academic matter, it's a bad idea."
An ardent gun-rights lobbyist, Aposhian said he does not envision seeking legislation to force the U. to embrace open carry because he believes Utah law clearly allows it.
"I'm not immune to [the U.'s] concerns," he said. "That's why I say let's sit down and chat about it."
---
* BRIAN MAFFLY can be reached at 891-257-2089 or bmaffly@sltrib.com.
