4-17-2007

After the shooting at Virginia Tech, I spent some time talking with people on the campus of Portland State about safety policies. One specific rule drew significant attention. Public Safety Officers said that guns are NOT allowed on campus except when carried by law enforcement or the military in commission of their duties. They've even arrested students for carrying weapons or having guns in their dorms.

Here's where the conflict comes up. The law says that aside from private property ( e.g., if I don't want you to have a gun in my business I can forbid you from doing so) individual entities cannot ban firearms. If that's the case, why then can public universities ban guns on campus?

The answer I found is as follows:

The law DOES say it's up to the legislature to ban firearms outside of private property . . . HOWEVER, Oregon has what are called Administrative Rules. OARs are kind of the details behind the laws according to Stephanie Soden with the Department of Justice (incidentally, the Attorney General Hardy Myers cannot comment on this SPECIFIC case because it has not been challenged in court and he has not issued an official opinion). Soden says the legislature can pass a general policy (like an environmental plan) and then leave it up to State agencies to fill in the specifics. Those specifics are the OARs. OARs are not passed unilaterally, they have to be presented publicly and accept comment from the community.

There is an OAR that allows the Oregon University System to prohibit firearms on campus except when carried by law enforcement or the military in the commission of their duties.

But what happens if you ARE caught carrying a gun on campus? Even though the rule says guns are not allowed, Schools STILL have to publicly display that or warn people carrying firearms. Once someone has been formally warned of the prohibition, if they continue to posses a gun on school grounds, then they can be sited for criminal trespass which is a Class A misdemeanor (according to reps with the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office).