Lawmakers to look at guns in dorms

Should university students be able to have legally concealed guns in their dorm rooms?

State legislators will study the concept — plus review course materials for receiving a concealed weapons permit — in the coming months. That follows a Tuesday vote of the Legislative Management Committee, made up of Senate and House leadership from both sides of the political aisle.

Another question raised Tuesday was whether to let public colleges and universities, such as the University of Utah, become private. If the U., for example, went private, the state would pull its funding and the U. could act independently from state controls on issues such as tuition, academics and firearms on campus.

A motion by Senate Majority Leader Mike Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, to form a task force to study privatization of the state's colleges and universities failed. Waddoups said he has no intention on bringing another motion back during the interim.

Waddoups and the U. have been at odds over the university's defiance of state law allowing permit holders to carry firearms on campus. But U. officials declined to comment on whether a constitutional challenge before the Utah Supreme Court over the new state gun law and the privatization study proposal were connected.

Waddoups said Wednesday the two issues were not linked and that he proposed forming a task force only because he had read in a national publication about the privatization of schools elsewhere. Colorado has privatized one public college; at least one other state is looking into it.

"I'm not trying to sell it — I'm not sure I like it," Waddoups said of privatizing state schools. But it's worth looking into, he said.

Meanwhile, the state's gun law says people with permits can carry concealed weapons "without restriction" except in areas such as courts and airports as specified by law. The approved study will examine whether dorms ought to be restricted areas.

"There are a lot of things to look at and debate there," including housing contracts and the fact a dorm is a person's home, said Waddoups, who suggested the study.

The University of Utah has set policy to ban faculty, staff and students from carrying guns on campus. State law, however, prohibits the U., and any other public entity besides the Legislature, from setting gun policy. The U., however, is continuing a constitutional challenge to keep the policy intact.

A few lawmakers asked whether they should hold off on the study until the Utah Supreme Court rules on the U. lawsuit. But Waddoups noted the U.'s challenge is based on constitutional grounds, not state law; therefore, a study that could affect state law is in line.

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com