Oregon daily emerald., January 19, 2005, Page 4, Image 4

Handguns: Oregon Firearms Federation speaks on financing Stubbs' case
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decision, but noted he had hoped it
would rule the other way.
Kevin Starrett, executive director of
the Oregon Firearms Federation, said
his organization helped finance the
Stubbs case because the OUS rules
were in violation of the law.
He said it was a beneficial coinci
dence that his organization needed
a plaintiff to challenge the OUS poli
cy on concealed handguns and
Stubbs needed financial support for
his case.
“We knew that schools all over
the state were violating the law, but
what we didn’t have was a plaintiff,”
he said.
Starrett said he was disappointed
by the outcome of the Stubbs case,
although he is accustomed to losing
such cases.
Roggendorf said a court decision
clarifying the legality of the OUS poli
cy “is a matter of the right case com
ing forward.”
He said the case would probably
involve a graduate student because
a person must be 21 years old to get
aCHL.
“The state knows that they have
an issue here and that they
are probably on the wrong side of
the law on it,” he said. “In my opin
ion, they know that the statute is
pretty clear. ”
Roggendorf said questions about
the OUS policy violating state statutes
remain, as well as “legitimate federal
questions” about whether CHL hold
ers’ civil rights are being violated.
Starrett said his organization might
challenge the policy again, but
is wary of a decision similar to
Stubbs’ case.
“Obviously, our concern is that we
might just get another nonsensical ju
dicial decision that will have accom
plished nothing but spending a lot of
money just to say, ‘We’re not going to
decide anything,”’ he said.
Starrett said that CHL advocates
may need to wait for another lawsuit
similar to Stubbs’, but any Universi
ty student who violated the OUS rule
might have to sacrifice his or her aca
demic career.
“I don’t obey those rules because I
know those rules have no force of
law,” he said. “But I’m not a student
at a University who (might be thrown
out).”
Starrett said the OUS is willing to
wait until someone successfully chal
lenges its policy.
“It’s the typical reaction of any
air
"Life's most urgent question
is: What are you doing for
others?"
-MLK Jr.
January 19, 20
► EMU Concourse
-► From 10AM to 4PM
SHOULD INDIVIDUALS WITH LICENCES TO CARRY CONCEALED
WEAPONS BE ALLOWED TO DO SO ON CAMPUS?
"University policy should trump
state law... Its mission is to
protect the safety and well-being
of students."
Corey Johnson | Grad student
"Not feeling safe enough
on a public campus (to
need a firearm), that's a
little extreme I think.”
Kara Cox | Sophomore
'Preferably, I’d probably want
no one to have a gun in class
... I wouldn't necessarily just
feel unsafe, but it would
be kind of unnerving to
learn people had a gun and I
didn’t know."
Robert Imamura | Senior
"It’s in our Bill of Rights,
but it’s outdated and
needs to be updated.”
Sam Redhead | Junior
bureaucracy,” he said. “They just try
to beat you into submission with the
knowledge that the average person
does not have the resources or time
to fight it.”
He said policies on CHL, such as
those set by the higher education
board, sometimes dissuade CHL
holders from carrying firearms, al
though the policies are not regularly
enforced, noting that Stubbs decided
not to carry.
“That’s quite typical of people with
licenses; they don’t want to break
the rules,” he said. “If their policy
was just to scare people, it certainly
worked.”
But OUS General Counsel Ben
Rawlins said the board has the
power to exclude CHL holders
on campuses.
“The Oregon State Board of High
er Education is on record ... as feel
ing it has adequate authority from the
Legislature to manage and provide
safety on its campuses,” he said, say
ing that authority “still in its view in
cludes the ability to prohibit weapons
on campus.”
Rawlins said the OUS policy will
stand until the board is instructed
otherwise.
“The board is of the opinion
that its position is sound and will
continue to do so until advised other
wise by the Legislature or a court,”
he said.
Rawlins said OUS has not issued
any citations for CHL holders bring
ing their firearms on OUS property.
He added that CHL holders at oth
er campuses have asked why the
OUS policy can prohibit them from
carrying their concealed handguns.
Kevin Neely, spokesman for Ore
gon Attorney General Hardy Myers,
said the policy is valid.
“We believe that the current poli
cies of the university system are very
defensible in court,” Neely said.
However, he said there is a possi
bility the OUS policy could be
challenged again in court.
“This is an area of the law in
which we don’t currently have a
significant amount of jurisprudence
or guidance from the court, and
because of that, the likelihood of
litigation is enhanced,” he said.
Starred said his group’s actions
have not been based on an interpre
tation of the law, but came from the
lawyers who wrote the law. He cites
a March 10, 2004, letter from Leg
islative Counsel Gregory Chaimov
to Oregon Representative Wayne
Krieger in which he stated OUS
doesn’t have the authority to ban
CHL holders from carrying on Ore
gon campuses. Legislative counsel
opinions are meant to advise legis
lators in law-making matters but
hold no official authority.
“The law is not the least bit am
biguous,” Starred said. “Whether
you agree with our position or not,
you still would hope there would be
respect for rules.”
A safety issue?
Safety considerations also fuel the
debate over whether to allow con
cealed firearms on campus.
The Baron’s Den firearm safety
instructor Raye Gunter said desig
nating an area, such as the Universi
ty campus, as off limits for CHL
holders to carry can be dangerous
because it creates a safe zone for
criminals to operate without fear of
people defending themselves. He
said cities with the highest restric
tions on guns have some of the
highest crime rates.
“All that stuff is increased when
you take away people’s ability to
defend themselves,” he said.
Some people also worry that con
cealed weapons might accidentally
discharge, but guns designed to be
concealed have internal safety mech
anisms preventing such incidents,
Gunter said.
Starrett agreed, saying incidents
from around the country have shown
that “competent, intelligent” students
with handguns can help stop crimi
nals. He added that it would be a
tragedy if a shooting occurred that
could have been prevented if a stu
dent had been allowed to carry his or
her handgun.
Starrett said safety concerns are
based on “illusions.”
“The fact is that every day they are
surrounded by people who are carry
ing guns who they don’t know
about,” he said. “They’re not afraid
because they don’t know about it.
They’re afraid of something that’s go
ing to happen, when in fact it’s
happening right this minute.”
Gunter said people interested in
obtaining a CHL should get as much
training as possible, even beyond the
class required for the license.
“Mainly, you need that confidence
level to be up,” he said. “If you’re not
confident, don’t carry.”
But opponents of CHLs, such as
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence, argue that most people
who gain permits and are not law en
forcement officers have limited train
ing and undergo little testing.
“Yet they are led to believe that,
given a dangerous situation, they
will use deadly force with the same
care and consideration that police
officers will,” according to the
group’s Web site. “Once a bullet
leaves a gun, who is to say that it
will stop only a criminal?”
FBI statistics show that only a few
people justifiably shoot others every
year. In 2001, handguns were used
justifiably 143 times, and in 2002
154 times.
The Brady Campaign also says
CHL holders’ own weapons can be
turned against them.
In 1998, six out of 58 law enforce
ment officers killed in the line of duty
were slain with their own weapons,
according to the FBI.
Taking CHL controversy
to the legislature
Starrett said there is no need to
draft new legislation because the law
is already “perfectly clear” that CHL
holders should be allowed to carry on
University grounds.
Roggendorf said license holders
could be banned from schools if the
Legislature passed a specific bill to
that effect.
“It’ll be interesting to see if the
Legislature tries to do anything this
session,” he said.
Roggendorf said any attempts
to pass such a law would show the
OUS’s regulation on firearms is
invalid.
“That alone should be enough to
let you realize they’re not within their
rights to (make firearms policies),”
he said.
New legislation slated to be intro
duced later this month may be a
step in that direction. State Senator
Ginny Burdick said she will propose
legislation before the Judiciary
Committee on Jan. 28 that would al
low K-12 school districts in Oregon
to ban CHL holders from carrying
firearms on school property.
Burdick said it’s a “very simple,
clear-cut issue” that all guns don’t
belong in schools. Currently, state
law allows CHL holders to carry in
public buildings, including schools.
“I would guess that most would
elect to have completely gun-free
schools,” she said.
Ceasefire Oregon President Shawn
Alford, whose organization is also
sponsoring the bill, said it hasn’t
taken an official position on CHL
policies at universities, but does not
approve of allowing concealed
firearms at schools.
She said the bill should apply to
all schools, but her organization
doesn’t have jurisdiction over uni
versities because they are governed
by different rules.
Burdick said safety concerns about
unattended guns prompted the
legislation.
“There have been incidents
where people have brought guns
into schools and been careless
with them,” she said. “When
you’re careless with a gun and
there’s children present, that’s a
recipe for disaster. ”
Although the bill would only apply
to K-12, Burdick said she knows
there is a similar issue with state
higher education, although the ad
ministrative rules governing higher
education are different.
“I’m certainly willing and very
interested in talking about what
the state system of higher education
would like to do in this area,”
she said.
After the legislation is proposed,
Burdick said the next step would be
to get a vote on the senate floor,
where it would have “pretty rough
footing.”
“I don’t think that a lot of people
are opposed to this idea, but a lot of
people are afraid of the NRA and the
more extreme elements of the gun
lobby,” she said.
Concealed firearms
and law enforcement
Department of Public Safety Inter
im Director Tom Hicks said he could
n’t recall any incidents involving con
cealed weapons that his department
has dealt with. Hicks said students
sometimes accidentally bring a hunt
ing rifle to school and DPS confis
cates it until the student can take it
off campus.
Hicks said DPS officers, who
are outfitted with pepper spray and a
collapsible baton, react to people
suspected of having weapons in dif
ferent ways, but often the DPS offi
cers will contact the Eugene Police
Department to make contact.
He said there are sometimes con
cerns that an officer could be out
gunned by a civilian.
“There certainly is that ongoing
concern for the safety of our officers,”
he said.
EPD Sgt. Mark Montes, who has
supervised campus officers since Feb
ruary 2004, said he was not aware of
any case or incident in which EPD of
ficers had to follow up on a firearm
violation at the University.
But Montes said there is a possibil
ity that people are carrying concealed
weapons on campus, noting that Uni
versity grounds are similar to any
public area.
“Are there some on campus? I
would say, reasonably, I think there
are,” he said. “But the Eugene Police
are not going to go through and
check anybody’s record to see who
has a (CHL) permit.”
Montes said it’s the responsibility
of CHL holders to know the applica
ble laws and regulations governing
where they can carry their weapons.
“The onus is on you to make your
self aware of and in compliance with
applicable statutes,” he said.
Montes said people who go
through firearms training to get a
CHL might not realize the OUS poli
cy exists in addition to the state law
allowing CHL holders to carry on
public property.
“It may be unclear to them that
they are in violation of a code of
conduct or an OAR,” he said.
parkerhowell@dailyemerald.com