University of Florida Sued Over 'Illegal' Campus Gun Ban

Leah Barkoukis | January 12, 2014 3:30 PM

Florida Carry was left no choice on January 10 but to file a lawsuit against the University of Florida because of its “illegal and unconstitutional regulations prohibiting firearms and weapons on all university property.” Florida Carry did attempt to work with the University to bring their policies in line with state law, but to no avail.

Since 1987 the Florida Legislature has preempted firearms law and issued state-wide licenses to carry for self-defense. In December Florida Carry won a similar case against the University of North Florida (UNF). In Florida Carry v. UNF the First District Court of Appeal ruled that "The legislature’s primacy in firearms regulation derives directly from the Florida Constitution... Indeed, the legislature has reserved for itself the whole field of firearms regulation in section 790.33(1)..." No public college or university has any authority to prevent students and the public from having a functional firearm in places that are constitutionally protected or permitted under state law.

The group is also seeking to protect the right to possess firearms and other defensive weapons in the home—in this case university-owned housing.

In the landmark 2008 Heller case the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bans on the possession of functional arms in the home are unconstitutional. Nationwide, millions of adult university faculty, students, and their families live in university owned housing. The fact that state housing facilities run by Florida Universities continue to deprive law abiding adults of their fundamental right to keep and bear arms in their homes, years after the clear decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court that such bans are unconstitutional, is unconscionable.