Reports: Colorado U. to segregate dorms for students with gun permits

by Chad D. Baus

In the wake of a Colorado Supreme Court decision in March upholding an appeals-court ruling that struck down Colorado University's gun ban, CU has announced that it will segregate dorms for students who have valid permits to carry concealed weapons, The Denver Post reports.

From the article:

The University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs are amending their student housing contracts, segregating students who possess a valid concealed-weapons carry permit.

The university said Thursday that both campuses will establish a residential area for students over the age of 21 with permits. In all other dormitories, guns will be banned, the new policy states.
"The main dorms on the main campus will not allow any concealed-carry weapons," CU-Boulder spokesman Bronson Hilliard said.

In addition, attendees at ticketed athletic and cultural events, such as football games and theater, on both campuses will not be permitted to bring their guns, officials said.

"We are treating that ticket purchase as a contractual agreement that you won't bring your weapon to the venue," Hilliard said.

...In Boulder, students who want to carry their gun must live in the family-housing units downtown, while those in Colorado Springs will have to live in upperclassmen dorms. In all other dorms, guns will be banned, The Post reports, quoting university officials.

Anyone want to guess which dorms potential burglars or rapists will frequent, and which they'll chose to avoid?

The Post cites an article in The Daily Camera, a Boulder newspaper, saying that new rules are troubling to James Manley, the attorney from the Mountain States Legal Foundation, who represented the student gun-rights group that brought the original lawsuit against CU's gun ban.

"We're going to take a hard look at the language, and if it conflicts with the concealed-carry act ruling of the Supreme Court, all options are open to us, including continuing the litigation that CU lost in March," Manley says, according to The Camera.

In Ohio, under state law, concealed handgun licensees are only allowed on campuses if in a motor vehicle, or in the process of being secured in a motor vehicle. Defenseless students are often targeted on an off campus, as a recent directive from the University of Cincinnati proves:

August 16, 2012

To: UC Community

From: Michael Cureton
Chief of Police
Director of Public Safety

Cincinnati Police are investigating an aggravated robbery that occurred in the 2300 block of Moerlein Ave. around 2:20 AM Thursday, Aug. 16. The suspects pushed the victim to the ground at gunpoint, and took personal property. The only description of the 2 suspects is they were black males.

If anyone has information about this, or any other crimes, please call Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040. Crime Stoppers offers rewards for information leading to the arrest of suspects in crimes, and you can remain anonymous.

District 5 police is reporting a serious spike in robbery offenses in the Clifton, University Heights, and Fairview (CUF) neighborhoods around campus. Public Safety is everyone’s business; travel in pairs, walk in a deliberate manner, make eye contact when approached by strangers and if necessary defend yourself. To defend yourself is to leave a mark on the person for later identification if you are assaulted. A passive victim profile is not encouraged.

Crime alerts, as required by federal law, provide information to University community members about incidents that occur on or within close proximity of the campus and may present a danger to other community members. This information may be helpful in avoiding similar incidents, as well as soliciting any information that may be available concerning these crimes. To track crimes in the campus area, go to http://www.crimereports.com and enter an address or any local ZIP code.

Register to receive additional safety, security and emergency information through the UC Campus safety Network, powered by Nixle. For details, see: http://www.uc.edu/publicsafety/police/CampusSafetyNetwork.html

"If necessary, defend yourself?" "A passive victim profile is not encouraged?" Those are welcome words, but thanks to Ohio state law, students are prohibited from having the best tools available to be anything else but a passive, defenseless victims. It is high time for Ohio's ban on concealed carry on campus to be lifted.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Vice Chairman.