Armed and safe at The U

As of 2004, Utah law does not permit universities to ban possession of firearms on campus, and last fall, the Utah Supreme Court made that clear. Still, university bureaucrats being what they are, they're still fighting to keep the faculty, staff, and student body disarmed and helpless.

The reason the University of Utah wants to be able to ban guns is that . . . well, actually, I'm not sure why that's being pursued. It certainly doesn't seem to have anything to do with any (non-existent) spate of violence involving legally armed citizens in Utah schools.

So now, there is consideration of the possibility of introducing a bill that would permit universities to ban guns from at least parts of their campuses. Happily, some legislators are quite skeptical of such plans.

Yet other members of the work group aren't certain such a ban would ensure a safe campus environment.
"If I send my daughter to the U. and you take away her right to defend herself, what guarantee of safety can you give me?" asked Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, a West Valley City police officer.
Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Lehi, echoed his sentiments.
"If you take away people's right to protect themselves, then you have to assume the liability of protection," Madsen said.

Yeah, the gun ban supporters hate it what people bring that sort of thing up, because they don't really have an answer for it. They just can't seem to understand that laws are obeyed only by the law-abiding, while the folks who pose the threat (the criminals) are just pleased to have had their prospective victims disarmed.

A Utah Department of Public Safety official points out that legally armed citizens have not been a problem.

Gun rights supporters who are not part of the work group don't believe lawmakers should compromise.
"[The U.] lost at the Supreme Court level and they don't have the guts to take it to the federal court level," said Clark Aposhian, chairman of Utah's Department of Public Safety Concealed Carry Review Board. "I'm not willing to give them an inch when there is no problem. Until they show us a problem [with legally concealed weapons], we're not going to give these rights away."

Utah lawmakers did the right thing in 2004, and the Utah Supreme Court backed them on it last fall. Don't fix what ain't broken.