On January 10th, Florida Carry, Inc. filed a complaint against the University of Florida (UF) “seeking a permanent injunction to protect the rights of students, faculty, and the public from the university’s illegal and unconstitutional regulations prohibiting firearms and weapons on all university property.”
Since 1987 “the Florida legislature had preempted firearms law and issued state-wide licenses to carry for self-defense.” Based on this, Florida Carry successfully sued and won against the University of North Florida (UNF) over gun regulations similar to those at stake at UF.
The ruling in the UNF decision made it clear that “no public college or university has any authority to prevent students and the public from having a functional firearm in places that are constitutionally protected or permitted under state law.”
Florida Carry wants UF to allow students to “lawfully store firearms in their personal vehicles on campus” and to “protect the right to posses firearms, and other defensive weapons in the home” – even if that “home” is university owned housing.
Florida Carry argues that the verdict in District of Columbia v Heller (2008) showed that “bans on the possession of functional [firearms] in the home are unconstitutional.” They say it is time for UF to comply with this ruling.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins.