http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/07/17/university-michigan-open-carry-lawsuit-joshua-wade/30306373/







 
 

Good.

U of M has no legal authority to do what they are doing.

If I understand correctly, u of m falls outside the K-12 laws that allow open carry with a CPL. School districts fall under the state constitution and pre-emption hence the reason they can't just make their own policies. U of M would be considered the same as Starbucks and Walmart concerning carrying of weapons and can allow them or not. The suck part is campus is so large, one has a hard time knowing if they are on the campus property or not at any given time.

I don't like the current set up either and would love to see it get changed but have no real hope that it will be.

Since I'm no lawyer, how I understand the current law could be flawed. Guess we will now know for sure once this is decided.

As I understand it, U of M is a public university and thus falls under preemption.

Under an obscure and hard to follow part of state law, the public universities are not considered "a local unit of government", so they can go to court and say pre-emption does not apply to them. The real question is whether the state constitution does. Article 1, Sec. 6 states:
"Every person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state."

Can the universities go to court and claim they are exempt from that?


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MCL  18.1115 Definitions; I to U.

Sec. 115.

(1) "Institution of higher education" or "university" means a state supported 4-year college or university.

.....

(5) "Unit of local government" means a political subdivision of this state, including school districts, community college districts, intermediate school districts, cities, villages, townships, counties, and authorities, if the political subdivision has as its primary purpose the providing of local governmental service for citizens in a geographically limited area of the state and has the power to act primarily on behalf of that area.

A public university, yes. Falls under preemption, no.

Really hope the courts tell me I'm wrong but I'm not holding my breath waiting for them to do so.

MSU, UM and WSU have special status in the MI Constitution and elect their Board of Regents. Since they are elected the state preemption law does not apply to Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Wayne State University. They can pass Ordinances that ban the carry of firearms anywhere on their campus.

You can’t carry on any property of the University of Michigan or Wayne State University even with a valid permit/license to carry in the state of Michigan. Michigan State University follows state law and you can have a firearm on you and in your vehicle as long as you do not go into any building on campus if you have a valid permit/license to carry in Michigan.

If Major Streets or Roads travel through the Univ. of MI or Wayne State Univ. you can drive using these streets roads in your travels if you do not stop on Campus. That is the understanding I have received. Do use caution when traveling through Univ. of MI and Wayne State Univ. Property. They have the legal authority to pass ordinances that ban the carrying of firearms on their property.

Info from handgunlaw.us if that matters at all.