One of the states that enacted the law advocated by Dr. Hupp was Colorado, which, in 2003 created statewide standards for issuing concealed carry permits, adopted a narrow list of exclusions—locations prohibited by federal law; K-12 schools; public buildings with metal detectors; and private property—and prohibited local governments from enforcing any contradictory laws and policies. Despite the Colorado General Assembly’s intent to supplant local rules as to concealed carry, the Regents of the University of Colorado refused to withdraw their 1994 policy barring concealed carry on CU’s campuses throughout the State.
The massacre that killed Dr. Hupp’s parents was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history, that is, it was until the Virginia Tech Massacre of April 17, 2007, when 32 were killed and 17 wounded. Subsequently, on February 14, 2008, a gunman killed 6 and wounded 18 at Northern Illinois University. Little wonder, therefore, that students on CU’s campuses in Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs—who have a license to carry concealed weapons almost anywhere else in Colorado—wish to exercise that right in what, in their view, is one of the most dangerous settings they will encounter: “a gun-free zone.”
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), a national advocacy group with over 30,000 members that supports the legalization of concealed carry by licensed individuals on college campuses, agrees. Last month, SCCC, two CU students and a recent CU graduate filed a lawsuit in Colorado state court seeking a ruling that CU’s policy is illegal and unconstitutional!