Mich. School Districts’ Gun Ban on Campus Upheld in Court
The school districts’ policies seem to contradict a state law allowing guns on school campuses.
The Michigan Gun Owners group sued the Ann Arbor School District last year.
A Michigan court upheld two school districts’ policies prohibiting guns on campus in separate rulings Friday.
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Ann Arbor Public Schools and the Clio Area School District in the cases after both districts were sued by gun right advocacy organizations in the state.
Lower courts had previously ruled in favor of the Ann Arbor policy and against the Clio Area policy, reports the Detroit Free Press.
An attorney for the Michigan Gun Owners, which sued Ann Arbor last year, told the three-judge panel the group plans to appeal its decision.
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At issue were policies developed by the districts’ school boards which forbid the possession of guns, concealed or not, on school grounds.
State law allows citizens with concealed carry permits to openly possess handguns in schools, but school boards have argued their policies stem from their responsibility to protect students.
In their ruling, the judge panel wrote that, regardless of the law permitting guns on campus, other state laws allow for “weapon-free school zones.”
“These four words telegraph an unmistakable objective regarding guns and schools,” the decision states. “Indeed, we find it hard to imagine a more straightforward expression of legislative will. The Legislature contemplated that this repeatedly invoked phrase would be interpreted to mean exactly what it says: No weapons are allowed in schools.”
The panel of Appellate judges hearing the cases included Elizabeth Gleicher, Frank Kelly and Douglas Shapiro.
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