Missouri’s Republican-dominated legislature has pushed the RKBA ball forward as much or more than any other state in the union in recent years. Frequently over the vetoes of Democrat Governor Jay Nixon.
Last year, a new law beefed up the state’s constitution in support of the Second Amendment, declaring that “the right of every citizen to keep and bear arms, ammunition and accessories in defense of his home, person, family, property or ‘when lawfully summoned in aid of civil power’ cannot be questioned and is ‘unalienable.'” . . .
As washingtontimes.com points out,
The law change made Missouri the second state in the nation, after Louisiana, to provide for so-called “strict scrutiny” of gun restrictions, which is the strongest level of protection.
Now that increased level of constitutional support for Show Me Staters’ gun rights is beginning to bear fruit.
A University of Missouri professor is filing a lawsuit against the school for prohibiting guns on campus, in what is aimed to be one of the first tests of the state’s newly amended constitution that provides for “strict scrutiny” of gun restrictions.
Royce de R. Barondes, who is an associate professor of law at the University of Missouri, is challenging the campus’ policy that “the possession of firearms on university property is prohibited except in regularly approved programs or by university agents or employees in the line of duty.”
As the Times article points out, the spread of campus carry across the fruited plain is a thing. More states have or are in the process of changing their laws to allow campus carry, invariably over the strenuous objections of faculty and administrators.
Lawmakers in 14 states are currently pushing bills to allow concealed carry on a college or university, and in June, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed his state legislature’s bill into law. Last year Missouri lawmakers passed a bill allowing specially trained school employees to carry concealed guns on campuses.
Next up in CoMo: the requisite blood-in-the-lecture-halls arguments against licensed, law-abiding adults exercising one of their civil rights in the hallowed halls of academe. But just as with virtually every other anti-2A argument the forces of civilian disarmament bleat to their willing stenographers in the media, they don’t have the facts on their side.
However, since the fall semester of 2006, Utah has allowed concealed carry on its nine public colleges, and one public technical college, with no uptick in gun-related violence.
In addition, concealed carry has been allowed on the two Colorado State University campuses — in Fort Collins and Pueblo — since 2003 and 14 Colorado community colleges since 2010. All Mississippi public colleges have allowed campus carry since 2011 and, as of last year, all Idaho public colleges have allowed it, with no major incidents.
Barondes, a concealed carry license holder, probably won’t be making many new friends in the Mizzou faculty lounge, but somehow we think he’ll get by just fine. In the mean time, we’ll be watching the progress of his suit and cheering him on from afar.
[h/t Dirk Diggler]