Open-carry advocate sues U. of Michigan over gun ban

David Jesse | Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — An Ann Arbor resident is suing the University of Michigan after being denied a permit to open carry a gun on campus.

Joshua Wade charges in the lawsuit that the university is in violation of the state and U.S. Constitution by banning him and others from being allowed to open carry on the Ann Arbor campus.

Wade filed the lawsuit in the state’s Court of Claims in June.

"Mr. Wade lives and works in Ann Arbor and is often near the U-M campus," his attorney, Steven Dulan, told the Free Press. "He wants to make it clear that U-M ... must comply with state law."

Wade’s lawsuit is the latest in a series of lawsuits against Michigan schools from people seeking to carry weapons on school grounds, including suits against the Clio school district and the Ann Arbor school district. In the spring, Wade openly carried a handgun into a choir concert at Ann Arbor’s Pioneer High School. That prompted a series of policy changes from the school board banning all weapons from school grounds, which resulted in a lawsuit filed by another resident.

U-M has a similar ban. Its policy says no weapons can be carried on U-M campuses by anyone other than law enforcement or the military. It also offers exceptions for education purposes. The university’s policy also says the director of public safety can issue a waiver allowing someone to carry a weapon on campus “based on extraordinary circumstances.”

In early September, Wade applied for such a waiver, his lawsuit states. It was denied by the university’s chief of police.

The Michigan Constitution “states that the right of the people to keep and bear arms for the defense of themselves and of the state shall not be violated,” Wade’s suit says, noting the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution also “protects the individual right of the people to keep and bear arms.”

Wade is asking the court to strike down the weapons ban.

“The ordinance amounts to a restriction on a person’s ability to possess a firearm.”

The university said the ban is a safety matter.

“The university will vigorously defend its right to regulate weapons on campus to ensure the safety of students, faculty, staff, patients, health-care providers and hundreds of thousands of visitors, and to foster a supportive learning environment where students and faculty can feel free to explore challenging topics without fear of violence,” U-M spokesman Rick Fitzgerald said in an email to the Free Press.

Michigan's "open carry" laws allow people with concealed carry permits to take guns into so-called pistol-free zones, such as schools, as long as the weapon is visible. There is no state law regulating open carrying of weapons in other areas as long as the weapon is in plain view, according to Michigan State Police.

There have been a number of incidents recently in which open carry advocates have showed up at churches, schools and government complexes armed with assault rifles and handguns. In March, the same rifle-carrying man caused Madison Heights educators to lock down Lamphere High School twice in a week. The same man, Shawn Nixon, in June got into confrontations with Oakland County sheriff’s deputies after showing up armed outside the county jail complex.