On Wednesday, lawyers for CU and Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) argued the case before the Colorado Supreme Court. SCCC feels the university campus falls under the umbrella of the state’s Concealed Carry Act of 2003, which prohibits local governments from establishing gun bans. Patrick O’Rourke, CU’s senior managing associate university counsel, argued that the university’s Board of Regents, as established by the state’s constitution, has the power to set its own rules.
The case has transcended the debate over gun control on campus, says O’Rourke, who is responsible for the school’s litigation, and is in fact about the larger issue of the autonomy of the Board of Regents within the state. O’Rourke, who has been with the university’s legal team for five years, spoke with reporter Dan Kaplan. An edited version of their conversation follows.
