A foundation is asking the Oregon Court of Appeals whether the state universities have the right to prohibit the possession of firearms on campus by people with concealed handgun licenses.

The suit - a petition for judicial determination of the validity of a rule - was filed Friday by Salem attorney Vance D. Day on behalf of the Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation.

State Rep. Kim Thatcher, R-Keizer, welcomed the lawsuit.

"I'm pleased to see this group standing up for gun owners who want to lawfully exercise their right to carry at our public universitiesm," Keizer said in a statement.

Last winter, Thatcher spoke out on behalf of a Lebanon student at Western Oregon University, who was detained but not charged after he was found with a loaded deringer in his pants pocket.

The student later was suspended for the rest of the academic year, but not because of the handgun, according to the school.

The student panel that threw him out based its decision on his also having a knife on his person and a rifle in his pickup in the parking lot.

Thatcher and other legislators contend that state law gives concealed hangun licenses holders the right to be armed on state campuses and the university rule against this is unlawful.

The university system contends it has the right to control conduct on campuses for reasons of safety.

Keizer said the issue has been dragging on for years.

"We gave the OUS fair warning that legal action was being contemplated," she said. "They disregarded our caution and now scarce financial resources will be used to defend an illegal policy instead of going toward the education of Oregon's young adults. I hope the OUS will see the error of their ways and reverse their policy as soon as possible."

Democrat-Herald