COLUMBIA, Mo. – The University of Missouri System Board of Curators voted Friday to eliminate a rule that only allowed campus employees to keep firearms in their vehicles on campus.
The rule change, carried by Curator Todd Graves, comes after the board approved changes last month to make the UM System compliant with a recent appeals court ruling allowing employees to keep guns in their vehicles.
The ruling stems from a case brought against the University and the Board of Curators by MU Law Professor Royce Barondes in 2015. According to the Associated Press, the appeals court considered whether a university rule prohibiting weapons on campuses, except for campus police, conflicted with a state law that said state employees cannot be prohibited from having a gun on state property if the firearm is in a locked vehicle and cannot be seen.
Barondes argued that the previous University rule prohibiting weapons on campus conflicted with his legal right to keep a firearm in his car as granted by state law – and he won. Friday’s rule change extends that right to MU students and visitors.
The Board approved the measure by a vote of 8-1, with the one ‘no’ vote unsurprisingly coming from Republican Greg Hoberock. Hoberock, though a Republican, used his vote to continue a reputation of voting against his party.
In the past, Hoberock has supported mask mandates and vaccine mandates, stances of which are usually scolded by conservatives. He also voted to “contextualize” Mizzou’s statue of Thomas Jefferson in June, once again siding with the Democrat curators.
While every other Democrat saw the value in the recent resolution, Hoberock voted against them and his Republican colleagues yet again, leaving many people wondering what his political leanings actually are.
According to spokesman for the University Christian Basi, the Board voted to remove the following language:
“Notwithstanding any other provision of these regulations, a state employee, including a University employee, may have a firearm in the employee’s vehicle provided the vehicle is locked and the firearm is not visible. This subsection shall only apply to the University as an employer when the employee’s vehicle is on property owned or leased by the University and the employee is conducting activities within the scope of his or her employment.”
And replaced it with the following:
“The open possession of and discharge of firearms, weapons, and explosives on University property including University farms is prohibited except in regularly approved programs or by University agents or employees in the line of duty. This rule shall not be constructed as consent to the possession of concealed firearms, weapons, or explosives on University property.”
The ruling applies to all four University of Missouri System Campuses.
