On Wednesday morning, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the Oregon University System (OUS) did not have a right to keep guns off of public university campuses.
Yesterday morning, “the court concluded that the OUS’ administrative rule…which prohibits firearms and other weapons from campuses, is invalid,” according to an OUS press release.
On Wednesday morning, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the Oregon University System (OUS) did not have a right to keep guns off of public university campuses.
Yesterday morning, “the court concluded that the OUS’ administrative rule…which prohibits firearms and other weapons from campuses, is invalid,” according to an OUS press release.
The OUS administrative rule “prohibits the possession and use of firearms and explosives on campus unless expressly authorized by institutional rule.”
Di Saunders, OUS Director of Communications, said the court felt the rule in place exceeded OUS’s authority. The court said that only the legislative assembly could make a decision like this.
She said that in the court’s statement, OUS has the right to control the security of its buildings and property in many ways—such as the conduct of visitors to the campus—the rule against firearms was invalid.
Even with this piece of OUS authority taken away, the organization still has ways of protecting the security of college campuses. For example, requiring attendees at sports events to sign an agreement that they won’t bring weapons into the game or on campus for a specific time frame.
As for how this will affect Portland State’s policy on weapons, “It has been our policy not to allow firearms on campus or in any of our buildings,”
said Scott Gallagher, director of Communications at PSU. However, PSU is “taking direction from the chancellor’s office.”
Saunders said that when the case was first argued on Mar. 29, OUS tried to use a precedence setting case from Medford, Ore.
In the case Doe v. Medford School District, a teacher wished to carry a concealed weapons at all times—including on campus—“because she feared a violent confrontation with her former husband,” according to the court document. This challeneged a Medford School District policy against carrying weapons on campus. The Oregon Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the school district to dismiss the teacher’s request.
Moving forward, OUS Chancellor George Pernsteiner said in a press release, “[OUS is] disappointed in the ruling of the court in this case and will consider our options. Our greatest concern is for the safety of our students and the entire campus community. Whether accidental or intentional, firearms violence continues to hurt or kill thousands of Americans each year in this country.”
While this is true, weapon issues on PSU campus are on the decline: arrests are down from six in 2007 to only four in 2009 (more recent data is currently unavailable for PSU).
“The safety of our faculty, staff and students is our number one priority,” Gallagher said. “We just learned of this ruling today and we’re still analyzing the situation and considering our options. However, we do not think guns should be allowed on campus.”
So much research supports banning weapons. Even if we don’t look at any other weapon-related crime, the ban is the primary reason that the suicide rate for the 15-24 year-old age group in college is half that of their same-age peers who are not in college!!! This is just crazy. We have the opportunity to save a lot of lives with this ban. Other states also have such a ban. I hope this isn’t the end of it.
The notion that firearms, in possession of people with concealed carry permits, somehow puts people on campus at risk is nothing but extremist propaganda without a shread of any evidence whatsoever.
Do these extremists not understand that every concealed carry permit holder in Oregon
1) has their fingerprints on file with their local sheriff’s department office?
2) has undergone—and passed—a criminal background check?
I wonder how many people on campus who do NOT have a firearm have gone through a criminal background check????