“Florida State University had a policy prohibiting weapons in vehicles, which it established after exercising what it thought was an applicable exemption to the state statute. That policy is now void in light of the 1st District Court of Appeal’s decision.” – Florida State University spokesman Jeanette DeDiemar, Fla. University Won’t Appeal Court Ruling on Guns [at cbs.local.com]
I just felt something terrible. As though millions of pearls all cried out at once and were suddenly clutched…
These are not the unarmed students you are looking for.
+1 for the Star Wars reference
er, references!
“Your weapons… You will not need them.”
(F that, Yoda.)
Better to have and not need, than need and not have.
You can cream peas, but you can’t pea soup..
I am not an FSU student, but I have parked on it’s campus for time to time. Good to know that FSU has caught up to what I already knew.
Florida doesn’t have state preemption?
FL does have state level preemption, but there is an exception that lets “school districts” set their own policies. The entire college and university system in the state of Florida has been prohibiting vehicle storage on their properties for a decade or more by claiming they were exercising that exception, ergo claiming they were school systems. About three years ago, Florida Carry brought suit in behalf of a UNF student, and won, but it was appealed by UNF. That appellate decision was handed down about a month ago, and the decision took effect on the 26th of November (I think). Everyone was waiting to see if UNF would appeal to the state supreme Court, and a few days ago (Friday, I think), their counsel notified Florida Carry they would not be appealing.
Merry Christmas! It ain’t campus carry, yet, but it’s a step.
Thanks Matt.
Doesn’t the Constitution preempt all this?
oh, nevermind.
UNF here in Jacksonville had the same policy, but was recently told by a judge that they don’t get to make that call. There was a local call in show on the NPR (I know, I know) radio station that was whining about it, but surprisingly, many callers agreed with the change.
I’m really glad to see universities voiding their own policies without being forced to individually. I’m curious to see if there are any holdouts that Florida Carry will have to file suit against.
I do wonder about U of M. Being private, I would assume they could still have policies (at least for students) against having a gun on any land the university owns.
If they are truly private, then I believe they can still prohibit them. Private property is private property.
I am not a lawyer, and I’m a Gator, so I wouldn’t set foot on that campus if I could in any way avoid it, so my opinion is worth nothing.
follow the money . . . . . if U Miami takes state funds (it probably does) for things like research of particular grants, it may have to accept the policy. It may piss off the academics, but in the end, always bet on the whore. They will get over it when the state legislators vote to cut off their revenue when Fla Carry makes a stink. Financial blackmail is how smoking, discrimination and other societal “concerns” were eliminated. Same thing here. I actually am hoping for a juicy new lawsuit. . . .
Go Gators!!! This applies to UF now too.
IIRC in Florida, even on private property you can still leave a gun in your car. the only exception was for school systems.
In response to Dirk, financial blackmail is how the ’96 firearm laws in Australia came to be. The federal govt doesn’t have power over gun laws, so the Prime Minister told the states, “Accept my rules or I yank funding.”
Never forget the golden rule: whoever has the gold makes the rules.
Presuming they could, then it would be no different than private property anywhere else in Florida. They have to find out you have a firearm in your vehicle then ask you to leave. You don’t and it’s armed trespass. Some sign or policy isn’t statute.
Yes, they would have. University police (a subset of the Coral Gables PD) can’t search your vehicle without probable cause or a warrant, and campus/student security can’t either. Now, as far as carrying on campus, if I remember, UM forbids it (I graduated 14 years ago, not too sure), and it’d be like most businesses where the most they could do is ask you to leave, like you said.
It’s one of those risks an CWFL holder has to make a decision on when entering the grounds of the University of Miami. By the book, don’t do it, and I certainly can’t condone it, even though I object to it. When I went there there were numerous assaults and rapes regardless of the time of day.
And here’s the catch, the way the Gables campus is structured, a police cruiser, when summoned, would have to either go off-road or park somewhere to get to certain parts of campus, i.e. slowing down response time. Looking back, I can say I was just damn lucky, we did some dumb stuff when we were students which an assailant could have easily exploited to his or her own gain.
However, others have pointed out that UM may be subject to this decision since they receive state funds.
It looks like most Universities in the state system are going to comply, I have no idea as to what private schools will do though. The University of Tampa, Flagler College, and Rollins all have policies that prohibit the possession of firearms on campus, I doubt that they will change them. Can the state force them to comply seeing as they are private? I know for a fact that many private universities receive state funds so…maybe?
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/23/3834580/fla-university-wont-appeal-court.html
Policies aren’t statutes. They cannot stop vehicle carry, worst they could do is expel you and ask you to leave.
True enough, I know UT’s policy is that if a weapon is seized from a student, it is held at the security office until you can pick it up and remove it from campus. No other consequences as long as the firearms is owned legally. Also, I carried in my vehicle the entire time I went to school there and never once had a problem. Then again that was a long time ago and the school was much smaller. I think we had three security officers in total and their main duty was to fine students for parking in the faculty lot…
ok, but are they going to get whipped by Auburn in two weeks?
Not a chance.
No way, no how, not this year. Best Auburn can hope for is to hang in there and not get completely steamrolled.
Hopefully this decision will influence other colleges to allow guns in cars or even campus carry.
…and a big tomahawk chop to FSU. Go (armed) Noles!!!
So they deny people their rights at the university regulation level, then they fight to deny people their rights at the district court level, and then they continue their quixotic crusade at the appellate court level. Finally, after losing at every level and wasting many thousands of dollars, they finally walk away without appealling even further, and expect us to believe they finally believe in the rule of law? Please.
The Florida group won a war of attrition against these freedom snatching statists. To the extent allowed by law, the University should foot their legal expenses, plus penalties, for this frivolous defense of rights infringement.
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