Court Concludes Concealed-Carry Law Applies to Campuses

[MaineCWPtraining]

by Valerie Richardson

04/22/2010

Martha Altman didn't feel safe at the University of Colorado. She worked nights at the medical campus in Aurora, often leaving alone in the dark after clocking out at 5 a.m. She wanted to carry her handgun -- she's a licensed holder of a concealed-carry permit -- but the university bans all firearms on campus.

So Altman sued, arguing that Colorado's Concealed Carry Act also applies to universities. The trial court dismissed the case, but the Colorado Court of Appeals last week sided with Altman, holding that the university is subject to the same concealed-carry laws as the rest of the state and sending the case back to the trial court.

The decision came as a significant victory for gun-rights advocates, who have long contended that universities are actually safer when people other than psychotic killers carry firearms on campus. Still, that argument has rarely prevailed, given that the vast majority of U.S. universities and colleges prohibit the presence of guns.

SNIP

For seven years, there were no concealed-carry incidents on campus. Students for Concealed Carry cites data from the universities' websites showing that crime actually decreased at CSU during that period, while crime at CU increased.

"Clearly concealed-carry doesn't cause the heightened risk, heightened accidents and heightened incidents that the Brady Campaign and others say it will," said Students for Concealed Carry spokesman David Burnett.

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