Outrage as University of Colorado to create special dorms for students to keep guns in their rooms

Policy impacts CU campuses in Boulder and Colorado Springs



Less than 1 per cent of University of Colorado students have a concealed-weapons carry permit

Guns will also not be allowed at school athletic and cultural events

Students with guns at the University of Colorado will be segregated in the dormitories on the school's Boulder and Colorado Springs campuses, the school announced this week.

Guns will be banned from the residential areas on main campuses and gun-possessing residents will be corralled into off-campus zones.

The announcement comes less than a month after James Holmes, a former CU graduate student, allegedly shot dead 12 people at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado.

Gun owners out: The University of Colorado campus in Boulder (pictured) will move students with concealed-weapons carry permits to off-campus housing

At the University of Colorado campus in Colorado Springs, students cannot bring guns to athletic or cultural events

The school actually began crafting the new housing policy this Spring, after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled, on March 5, to allow individuals with state-issued concealed carry permits to carry handguns on college campuses.



All undergraduate students will be asked in their housing contracts if they hold a Colorado concealed carry permit, CCP. They will be free to posses their firearms in designated areas but will be asked to forgo bringing a handgun to campus.

While some see the policy as an implementation of the court's decision, others are calling it a response to the tragedy involving the school's former student.

On July 20, Holmes, 24, allegedly entered the Century 16 movie in Aurora and started a terrifying shooting rampage that left 12 dead and 58 wounded.

Police say he fired a 12-gauge Remington 870 Express Tactical shotgun, a Smith & Wesson M&P15 semi-automatic rifle and a Glock 22 handgun.

Holmes had obtained his weapons and ammunition legally but he did not have a concealed weapons permit.

Former student: James Holmes allegedly entered a movie theater in Aurora and shot dead 12 people

In June 2011, Holmes had enrolled as a Ph.D. student in neuroscience at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora but he dropped out in June 2012.

The CU housing policy will impact residential students at the university’s campuses in Boulder and Colorado Springs and did not mention the school’s other campuses.

‘The main dorms on the main campus will not allow any concealed-carry weapons,’ university spokesman Bronson Hilliard told the Denver Post.

The Boulder campus will provide off-campus housing units, in a downtown area, that can accommodate up to 50 residents, though officials doubt they will ‘have anywhere near that number.’

Less than one per cent of the student-body of each campus is believed to have a concealed-carry permit.



To obtain a concealed carry permit in Colorado, a person must be at least 21 years of age, complete an FBI background check, and have either previous military or police experience or proof of completion of a firearms training course.

‘I attended CU years ago and disagree with this decision,’ one alum, J.J. Smith, wrote on the school’s Facebook page that announced the new policy.

Less than one per cent of the student-body is believed to have a concealed-carry permit

‘Students now need to be able to carry guns to protect themselves from armed intruders. Think Columbine and Virginia Tech, as well as the Aurora movie theater and Milwaukee Mosque. Is there really any question?’

Another alum, Tom Graziano, sounded off, ‘Great...guns IN dorms...are they serious?!?! No writing on the wall here folks.’

Officials said students with a gun permit may live in the dorms but cannot bring their weapons to main campus, which should remain a gun-free zone.

‘They may store their gun with police,’ Deb Coffin, vice chancellor for student affairs for the university’s Boulder campus, said.

Guns will also not be allowed at school athletic and cultural events.

The Colorado Springs campus does not have as many available housing units and so those students wishing to keep their guns with them ‘must have permission from their roommate,’ Tom Hutton, a spokesman for the campus, said.

The new policy is expected to meet resistance from gun advocates.

Kurt Mueller, the director of strategy of Students for Concealed Carry, said his group would look closer at the new policy.