Joshua Wade

Joshua Wade approaches the podium to give a public comment at an Ann Arbor school board meeting on Wednesday, March 11, 2015. The Michigan Court of Appeals denied Wade's appeal that the University of Michigan's 2001 ban of firearms on campus was unconstitutional.

(Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News file)

ANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan's campus gun ban has been upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals.

In a 2-1 opinion, the court said a 2001 ban making all properties owned, leased or controlled by the university weapons-free doesn't violate the U.S. Constitution.

In an opinion issued for the majority, Judge Mark Cavanagh upheld the ban and disagreed with plaintiff and Ann Arbor resident Joshua Wade, who argued it was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

The school's policy only allows military and law enforcement agents to carry weapons on campus.

"Although we do not undertake an exhaustive historical analysis today of the full scope of the Second Amendment, nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings," Cavanagh wrote.

In his appeal, Wade argued that the university is not a "sensitive place" because it is "not a school as that word is commonly understood."

In his dissension, Judge David Sawyer argued that the university's ban was preempted from regulating firearms under the provisions of state law in areas of the university that are open to the public.

"I leave for another case the questions of defendant's authority to regulate the possession of firearms by its students or employees, or in areas in which the general public are prohibited access," Sawyer wrote.

"I do not disagree with the majority that this case is not strictly controlled by the preemption provision in MCL 123.1102," he wrote. "That statute bans local units of government from enacting their own laws regulating firearms. But, as the majority points out, 'local unit of government' is defined ... as 'a city, village, township, or county.' And, of course, defendant is none of those."

Cavanagh disagreed, concluding in his opinion that the state Legislature "clearly limited" its reach to firearm regulations enacted by cities, villages, townships, and counties.

He noted that Wade failed to cite a single case which held that UM's Board of Regents is a "lower-level governmental entity" or an "inferior level of government" subject to state law preemption.

"The University is not similarly situated to these entities; rather, it is a state-level, not a lower level or inferior level, governmental entity," he wrote. "More specifically, it is 'a constitutional corporation of independent authority.'"

In November 2015, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Cynthia Stephens granted the university's motion for summary disposition, dismissing Wade's original lawsuit.

She ruled "the state Constitution grants the university the autonomy to promulgate its own firearms regulation," according to the opinion.

Wade appealed the decision to dismiss the lawsuit against UM in December 2015.

Wade also was involved in a gun controversy within Ann Arbor Public Schools in 2015. He openly carried a gun into Pioneer High School. The Board of Education then enacted policies that ban guns from schools.