Mar 092012
 

Ari Armstrong recorded a nice interview with Jim Manley last night on his big legal victory with the Colorado Supreme Court to overturn the ban on concealed carry at University of Colorado (CU). Colorado law allows concealed carry, but CU has refused to allow permit holders to exercise that right on campus grounds, even though state law should permit it:

Diana and I first met Jim several years ago when he was the head of the University Colorado (Boulder) campus Objectivist club. After he graduated from CU law school, he went to work for the Mountain States Legal Foundation (which does the same sort of advocacy work as Institute for Justice, but at the state/regional level).

Jim was the lead attorney on this case against CU’s bad policies. His (and MSLF’s) recent legal victory has made national news, including writeups in the Wall Street Journal and MSNBC.

I was glad to be able catch up with Jim a few nights ago and give him my personal thanks for his hard work on this case. Soon, law-abiding concealed weapons permit holders such as myself will no longer have to disarm when we enter University grounds. (Jim came to Diana’s free public lecture at CU on Ayn Rand’s ethics and moral perfection).

Given how easy it is to be discouraged by current politics, I wanted to highlight another example of successful activism by a determined individual!

Addendum from Diana

When I was a graduate student at CU Boulder, I had to walk a few blocks off-campus, through a residential neighborhood, to get to my car. I took classes in the evening on occasion, and during those times, my walk was dark and lonely. Like other students, I’d receive periodic reports of sexual assaults just off-campus, and that worried me.

The police chief’s advice of carrying a “safety whistle” was pure absurdity to me. If I was attacked, that wouldn’t do me a lick of good. Also, I knew that I couldn’t hope to outrun my attacker: I’m a slow sprinter, and even in elementary school, I only ever beat the fat girl in running the 50-yard dash. Really, I wanted my “safety Ruger” — because that could have actually kept me safe! Instead, I often took Kate, my German Shepherd with me to those late classes. She probably wouldn’t have helped much if I’d been attacked, but she might have deterred a criminal.

Moreover, in the wake of school shootings, I hated to think of being disarmed and defenseless, particularly as a teacher in a classroom full of terrified students. I’d have an obligation to protect my students as best as I could, yet I’d be unable to do much of anything. I hated that with a passion.

Hence, I’m so pleased by Jim’s fabulous work to overturn this gun ban on CU campuses. It’s taken years of litigation, but the results will make a real difference in the lives of students, professors, workers, and visitors to campus.

Thank you, Jim!

   
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