Supreme Court Backs University of Michigan’s Campus Gun Ban

Just a few days after a Florida college shooting that killed one person, the Supreme Court of the United States decided to keep the University of Michigan’s gun ban in place.

Monday, the Supreme Court refused certiorari without commenting on the case that challenged the school’s gun restrictions on campus. This means that a lower state court’s decision that the ban is constitutional will stay in place.

A story from ten years ago

The University of Michigan passed a policy in 2001 called “Article X” that says people can’t bring guns, other dangerous weapons, or knives onto school or government land. “Regardless of whether the person has a concealed weapons permit or is otherwise authorized by law to possess, discharge, or use any device referenced below,” the rule applies to everyone. The law says that a person can carry a gun as long as they get permission from the head of the university’s Public Safety Department.

Joshua Wade worked at the University of Michigan Credit Union. In 2014, he asked the university’s Public Safety Director for permission to bring a gun on campus. Wade asked for something but was turned down, so he sued the University of Michigan in June 2015 to question its policy.

The case has to wait for the judges.

Soon after, the University of Michigan put out a summary of why Article X was valid, and the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld it in 2017. Wade then made an appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. At first, the court agreed to hear the case, but later changed its mind while it waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022).

It was unconstitutional for New York state to require residents to show a “special need” to carry a gun outside of their homes, especially in places that the state of New York had designated as “sensitive.” That’s what the justices said in that case. Courts were only required to uphold gun restrictions when they were in line with the country’s “history and tradition” of gun laws. This decision set a framework for analyzing gun restrictions.

But Bruen did let bans happen “in sensitive places like schools and government buildings.”

Limitations that last after Bruen

After Bruen, the Michigan Court of Appeals looked at the case again and decided in favor of the school, so the gun ban stayed in place.

Wade made another appeal. He said that the university’s gun ban completely ignored the Second Amendment for everyone who lives, works, or studies near the school. He also said that colleges and universities are more like cities than schools and shouldn’t be thought of as “sensitive places.”

The Michigan Supreme Court also ruled against Wade in October 2024.

Wade asked the justices to review the case and said that if they didn’t, the Second Amendment would be seen as a “second-class right” that had to follow a completely different set of rules than the other Bill of Rights protections.

On Monday, the judges didn’t do that. They left the Michigan Supreme Court’s decision alone without saying anything.

It was only a few days ago that a shooter opened fire at Florida State University, killing two and hurting six.

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