Colorado has had several shootings in the past, the memory of Columbine has haunted the small town since the day it happened. 14 years later, Colorado Springs had another shooting in which 4 children were killed. Since then, some people began to have a stigma against guns and began to run “anti-gun” campaigns stating that if we ban guns, shootings will no longer happen at schools. But there were other people who defended the right to bear arms, stating that guns are already illegal in schools – but shootings continue to happen. According to pro-gun activists, banning guns is not going to achieve anything – “If you outlaw guns only the outlaws will have guns”

The debates escalated when Virginia Tech went through their first shooting, it was then that students began to protest and began to ask colleges to allow them to conceal carry guns, but the universities and local governments denied them. A second shooting happened, and students from across the country began to run similar campaigns asking for permission to carry their guns on campus. Finally, a year after Virginia’s second shooting; the students at the University of Colorado will be able to carry their weapons on campus.

The Colorado Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the University of Colorado system can no longer ban guns from campus, saying the policy violated state law.

Before Monday’s ruling, the university system had held its four campuses exempt from the state’s 2003 Concealed Carry Act, which barred licensed gun owners from packing heat in certain government buildings, private properties and elementary and high schools — but not college campuses.

In its ruling, the court said only “local governments” had the authority to adopt exemptions to the Concealed Carry Act, and the university board didn’t qualify.

UC-Boulder President Bruce Benson said in a statement he was “disappointed” in the decision, but that the school would comply.

David Burnett, a spokesman for Students for Concealed Carry, the group that brought the case, argued that strapped students would make college campuses safer.

“Gun-free policies are an open invitation to psychopaths,” Burnett said in a statement on the group’s website.

“Signs on the doors are an unenforceable lie that only robs licensed citizens of their ability to defend themselves. Until colleges can guarantee our safety, they can’t criminalize self-defense.”

Republican Sen. Greg Brophy agreed, telling local station KDVR that incidents such as the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, which left 33 dead, could have been stopped if other students had been armed.

But Democratic Rep. Claire Levy, of Boulder, told the station that schools should decide how to keep students safe, not the court. 33 dead, could have been stopped if other students had been armed.

“To say that more guns makes us more safe is wrong-headed,” she said. “What you’re asking for is violence.”

But when you look at statistics of people who have conceal carry permits, they don’t use the guns for violence. According to the Students for Concealed Carry, the Court’s decision will affect firearms policies on all of Colorado’s public college campuses. 220 campuses in six states already allow campus carry, without resulting injuries or deaths reported. “We expect other colleges to see the handwriting on the wall and comply with the court’s ruling,” said David Burnett, the national spokesman for the group. “If they refuse to adopt more reasonable policies, we may explore litigation against them as well.”

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