Headline: Concealed-carry group sues Ohio State, says gun ban is too broad

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that the national Students for Concealed Carry Foundation filed a lawsuit against The Ohio State University in Franklin County Common Pleas Court this week, alleging that the university’s code of conduct violates state law because it bans students from keeping guns in their cars on campus and carrying guns while representing the university off campus.

From the article:

The university’s Student Code of Conduct, which the lawsuit says is part of the state’s Administrative Code, prohibits having firearms and other “dangerous weapons” on campus, “even if otherwise permitted by law.”

The state law barring firearms from university campuses exempts firearms that are stored in the locked car of a holder of a concealed-carry permit. The lawsuit says the university’s code of conduct does not acknowledge that exception, violating state law.

According to the article, the foundation also says the code of conduct violates state law because it says that students cannot possess a firearm when they are off-campus and participating in any activity related to the university. Ohio State’s jurisdiction should end at the campus border, the lawsuit says.

The case hinges on the fact that the state is the only entity that can regulate or restrict firearms in Ohio, said Derek A. DeBrosse, a Columbus attorney representing the concealed-carry groups in the case.

“In a nutshell, the thrust of this case was the state of Ohio said, ‘We’re the only ones that can regulate firearms,’  ” DeBrosse said. “What they’ve done is like a roundabout. Through the code of student regulations, they’ve violated state law.”

OSU officials did not comment on the legal particulars of the case. “We were recently served with the complaint in this action. We are reviewing it and will prepare an appropriate legal response,” wrote OSU spokesman Gary Lewis.

According to the article, the plaintiffs are not suing over the statewide ban on firearms on college campuses approved by state legislators, only the provisions against guns in cars and carrying guns while representing the university off campus.

Concealed-carry groups, including Buckeyes for Concealed Carry, the foundation’s OSU chapter, have asked top university officials to change their policy for several years. In 2012, then-OSU President E. Gordon Gee dismissed the notion of allowing guns on campus.

The current trial date for the lawsuit is slated for July 2015.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, BFA PAC Vice Chairman, and an NRA-certified firearms instructor. He is the editor of BuckeyeFirearms.org, which received the Outdoor Writers of Ohio 2013 Supporting Member Award for Best Website.