Gun Rights Rant

   Over the past couple months the number of stories dealing with gun rights has increased on the Courier’s website. These stories have sparked heated discussions about the legality and the morality of gun rights. A majority of the comments sent between the people posting on the site deal with the morality of gun rights. I have seen very few comments that take the legal approach to this debate. Whether carrying a gun is moral or not will be debated forever. If we are not willing to look at the laws of our state and country and base our discussions about the morality of carrying around those laws, then we are just going in circles. The following is a legalistic approach to this debate.

            I am not going to address the 2^nd amendment or its applicability to the state under substantive due process under the 14^th amendment. If someone wishes to learn about that they should read D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago.

            While the 2^nd amendment is fairly ambiguous in its intentions, Article 1 Section 32 of the IN Const. is not. It states “The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the State.” Although it is clear that Hoosiers have the right to bear arms for self defense in their homes, our state has created restrictions and regulations on that right in regards to bearing arms in public and the issuing of a permit to carrying a gun outside of the home. In this case the issue is whether a person with a lawful permit to carry may do so on a college campus. In addressing this we must first look at the locations that a person is prohibited from carrying a gun as stated in the law.

            IC 25-47-9-2 states “Possession of firearms on school property, at school function, or on school bus; felony
     Sec. 2. A person who possesses a firearm:
        (1) in or on school property;
        (2) in or on property that is being used by a school for a school function; or
        (3) on a school bus;
commits a Class D felony.”

            I am not a lawyer but it seems to me that the obvious question one should have after reading that is “is a college or university considered a school? How does Indiana define school?” According to IC 20-18-2 a high school is defined as “High school means any combination of grades 9, 10, 11, or 12.” IC 20-18-2 also defines an elementary school “Elementary school means any combination of kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8.”

            IC 21-7-13-10 defines colleges and universities. In short a college or university is considered to be a “post secondary educational institution.” Unless there is somewhere in the Indiana Code that defines colleges and universities in a different way, I understand Purdue and USI to be “post secondary educational institutions.” Therefore colleges and universities are not considered to be “schools” and leads me to the conclusion that IC 25-47-9-2 (the law that prohibits a person from possessing a gun on school property) does NOT apply to universities or colleges. 

            In the case dealing with Purdue, I suspect the students petitioned for permission to carry a gun on campus to the student government because that was the first link in the chain in their hopes of reaching the university’ s board of trustees.  IC 21-39-2-3 states “Authority to govern by lawful means
     Sec. 3. (a) This section applies to the board of trustees of the following state educational institutions:
        (1) Ball State University.
        (2) Indiana University.
        (3) Indiana State University.
        (4) Purdue University.
        (5) University of Southern Indiana.
    (b) The board of trustees of a state educational institution may govern, by lawful means, the conduct of the state educational institution's students, faculty, and employees, wherever the conduct might occur, to prevent unlawful or objectionable acts that:
        (1) seriously threaten the ability of the state educational institution to maintain the state educational institution's facilities; or
        (2) violate the reasonable rules and standards of the state educational institution designed to protect the academic community from unlawful conduct or conduct presenting a serious threat to person or property of the academic community.

            I understand the above to mean that the board of trustees has broad power and authority in creating rules and regulations that they have deemed would best serve the interests of the university. A new state law that was passed in 2011 prohibits local governments from creating firearm regulations that are separate (and often more restrictive) from the regulations in the State Code. Since the Indiana Code gives the board of trustees the authority to create rules and regulations for their respective universities, Purdue’s board of trustees are well within their lawful authority to allow or prohibit the carrying of guns on campus.

            Now a brief review, the Indiana Const. states a person has the right to bear arms for self defense and our State legislature has taken that to mean a person can have a gun on their property, but we (the legislature) may regulate the bearing of arms in public and in specific places. The Indiana Code dealing with the regulation of firearms, prohibits the possession of a firearm on school property. However, colleges and universities are not defined as being schools. Therefore, that regulation does not apply to them. The Indiana Code dealing with the power and authority granted to the board of trustees at colleges and universities allows the board to create rules and regulations that they have determined to be best for the university. The law passed in 2011 unifies the entire state under the Indiana Code by prohibiting local governments from creating the own regulations not mentioned in the Indiana Code.

            So now that we are somewhat familiar with Indiana’s laws concerning the regulation of firearms, I can make my argument. I have a permit to carry a firearm and I do nearly every time I leave home. However, I am also a student and employee at the University of Southern Indiana. Therefore, I cannot carry my gun Monday through Friday since I am on campus for class and work most of the day. While I strongly believe in the right to bear arms, I also believe in regulating who may carry. However, I am against any potential state regulation or rule created by a board of trustees that prevents me from carrying in certain areas. In the case of Lacy v. State in 2009, the ruling of the court was that the right to bear arms is a core fundamental value (right) in Indiana. Moreover, any law or regulation that places a substantial material burden on the right to bear arms ,giving that the person may lawful carry a gun, is unconstitutional.

            The court defined a substantial material burden as being a law or regulation that prevents a fundamental right from effectively serving the purpose in which the right was created. In this case the right is to bear arms for self defense. In my opinion, USI’s rule that prevents firearms on campus (even in someone’s vehicle in the parking lot) places a substantial material burden on my right to bear arms. I drive 48 miles every day (24 to class/work and 24 home) and my vehicle gets 210 miles with a full tank of gas. I often leave campus for lunch and to run errands in between classes and work, if I wanted to exercise my  right to bear arms I would have to drive all the way home to get my gun, and if I did get my gun, I would have to take it back to my house before going back to campus. Essentially I cannot exercise my right to bear arms 5 out of the 7 days in a week.

            I do not think it is unreasonable to allow me to keep my gun locked up in my vehicle while on campus. Do you? That being said even if USI allowed me to carry my gun while on campus, I would not take it to class with me. I think it would be annoying to have on my hip while sitting in a small desk in class. Not to mention the drama it would cause if other students saw it. I am just trying to graduate and go to work. A complete ban of guns on campus is unconstitutional and unreasonable. The issue of carrying a gun from class to class is not an issue I choose to address because I personally wouldn't choose to do so. In conclusion, if someone wants to shoot up a college campus, a rule created by a board of trustees, or even a state law would not stop them from trying to kill people. We need to ensure our regulations dealing with who may lawfully carry are effectively achieving their goal.