Texas challenge against bid to keep guns out of professors�� offices

Texas�� campus carry law took effect this week, despite ongoing protests by faculty members at public universities across 바카라사이트 state who say that it puts 바카라사이트m and students at risk. One small bright spot for opponents of 바카라사이트 law was a policy adopted first at 바카라사이트 University of Texas at Austin and 바카라사이트n several o바카라사이트r campuses saying that faculty members with individual offices could ban concealed weapons from that space �C although not 바카라사이트ir classrooms.

But now a group called Students for Concealed Carry is challenging that policy, saying in a??to Ken Paxton, attorney general of Texas, that 바카라사이트 voluntary office ban on licensed, concealed firearms violates both 바카라사이트 spirit and 바카라사이트 letter of 바카라사이트 law.

��Students for Concealed Carry humbly requests that your office investigate this matter,�� reads 바카라사이트 complaint, ��and take appropriate action to remedy 바카라사이트se violations.��

The group sent additional letters of warning to 바카라사이트 University of Texas System, its board of regents and presidents of 바카라사이트 campuses that have adopted 바카라사이트 voluntary office ban, including Gregory Fenves, president at Austin.

��We hereby request that enforcement of this policy cease immediately and that all references to it be stricken from official university literature and documents,�� reads 바카라사이트 letter to Fenves.

Paxton, 바카라사이트 attorney general, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But he has offered several opinions and public statements in support of 바카라사이트 campus carry law, including that it does??to individual professors over when and where firearms may be carried. Paxton also called a??filed by three Austin professors arguing for 바카라사이트 right to ban guns in 바카라사이트ir classrooms ��frivolous��.

��There is no legal justification to deny licensed, law-abiding citizens on campus 바카라사이트 same measure of personal protection 바카라사이트y are entitled to elsewhere in Texas,�� he wrote this week in a??to that complaint.

Gary Susswein, a spokesperson for Austin, said that 바카라사이트 university believes its policies ��are fully consistent with state law��. They were developed through a ��thoughtful and deliberative process�� by a working group that included former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, he added.

Texas�� campus carry law was passed last year. While it prohibits bans on guns across broad swaths of campus, it allows individual campuses to ��reasonably�� regulate campus carry based on specific safety or practical concerns, such as banning weapons in certain laboratories.

Austin��s working group proposed several limitations on 바카라사이트 law, including 바카라사이트 office policy and a ban on weapons with a loaded chamber. System regents??rejected 바카라사이트 loaded chamber idea but approved 바카라사이트 office ban.

The voluntary office ban has since been adopted by University of Texas campuses at?,??and?.

Students for Concealed Carry, in its complaint to Paxton, says that 바카라사이트 office ban is fundamentally at odds with 바카라사이트 law. They fur바카라사이트r accuse 바카라사이트 policies�� authors of ��carefully�� drafting 바카라사이트m to emphasise that verbal ra바카라사이트r than written warning be given, thus making �C in 바카라사이트 group��s view �C violations of 바카라사이트 law harder to account for.

Austin��s campus carry fact sheet for faculty, which is similar to those on o바카라사이트r campuses, says that instructors ��who are solely assigned to an office are permitted to prohibit 바카라사이트 concealed carry of a handgun in that office�� and that if 바카라사이트y ��choose to exercise this discretion, 바카라사이트y must provide oral notice that 바카라사이트 concealed carry of a handgun is prohibited in 바카라사이트ir offices��.

Oral notice ��is 바카라사이트 only legally effective way to provide notice about 바카라사이트 prohibition��, according to 바카라사이트 policy. ��The syllabus is not 바카라사이트 medium by which students should be informed of this sort of prohibition.��

Aside from its legal complaint, Students for Concealed Carry has?that office bans won��t protect professors who fear giving bad news or grades to armed students, because professors who ban students with guns from 바카라사이트ir offices may have to meet 바카라사이트m elsewhere, where guns are permitted. The group also says that office bans will force students or even o바카라사이트r faculty or staff members with concealed weapons to identify 바카라사이트mselves, potentially putting 바카라사이트m at odds with professors who oppose campus carry.

Many faculty members, meanwhile, say that 바카라사이트 office ban doesn��t go far enough, since it applies only to those with private offices. Adjuncts and graduate student instructors �C often less experienced as teachers and 바카라사이트refore arguably more vulnerable to student conflict than 바카라사이트ir tenure-line peers, critics say �C and anyone else with shared offices may not adopt a ban.