CU Regent Ken Montera provided updates on the potential on-campus concealed carry ban.
Following the April 18 Board of Regents meeting that included a discussion with public presentations and comments concerning a potential on-campus concealed carry ban, no decision has been reached.
The meeting occurred because of a CU-wide student movement started by CU Boulder’s student government that called for an on-campus ban for concealed carry weapons.
The BOR is made up of nine members, seven of which are elected from each congressional district. UCCS is located in Congressional District Five, which is represented by Montera.
According to their website, the BOR oversees the entire CU system and focuses mainly on directing funding, integrating diversity and providing high quality education to students with affordability in mind. A lot of their work is done in committees that are specific to these focuses.
The call for a ban follows off the back of Colorado legislation SB21-256 that was passed in June 2021, which allows higher education insitutions to prohibit concealed carry on their campuses.
“We’ve had many groups come speak to us both for and against it — we just continue to listen to our students and faculty population and so on about their viewpoints, but no regent has brought forward a resolution to take this up as an official vote to change the policy.” Montera said.
According to Policy 14.I, the right to carry a concealed weapon with a permit on CU campuses is still recognized by the Regents, but Montera said other implemented bans do not allow concealed carry during ticketed events and large university sponsored events.
Research conducted by campus police departments across the four CU system institutions have found no results of gun-related incidents connected to concealed carry permits occurring on campus.
At the April 18 meeting, UCCS Chief of Police Dewayne McCarver presented statistics on gun-related incidents that have occurred on or around campus since 1994:
- 2004 — a gun was reportedly seen on campus
- 2018 — a shooting occurred on the edge of UCCS property but did not involve any student or staff
- 2022 — Non-student on adjacent property was taken into custody after firing into the air
“We have never had an incident involving a concealed carry permit whatsoever,” McCarver said.
Photo from regents.cu.edu.