Attorney for MU professor speaks about lawsuit on University gun ban

A University of Missouri law professor is suing the the University, saying banning guns on campus violates state law.

Law professor Royce De Barondes has named the MU Board of Curators and MU President Tim Wolfe in the lawsuit.

His attorney, Jennifer Bukowsky, said an amendment to the state constitution passed last November protects his right to conceal and carry.

“We just recently amended it with Amendment 5 last year where it explicitly states those rights are unalienable and subject to strict scrutiny,” Bukowsky said.

The lawsuit was filed Saturday and the University has 30 days to respond.

“We’re hoping that Attorney General Chris Koster will intervene on our behalf, on behalf of the professor in protecting his rights,” Bukowsky said.

She said this is the first case of this type she has ever had, but said it’s an important one.

“I think there’s a very interesting illustration recently here in Columbia of the need for individuals to be able to decide how to protect themselves and that would be the case of Mark Adair,” Bukowsky said.

Mark Adair was shot and killed by police in the Hitt Street Parking Garage on campus back in April after pointing a gun at officers.

Police were searching for Adair after he attacked three different women in other locations earlier that same day.

“What was not reported at the time, which I found out from a source and later confirmed through a sunshine request, is that the woman in her car in the parking lot at Moser’s grocery store who was attacked, she was able to get away by pulling out her handgun out of her purse,” Bukowsky said. “And had she not done that, she might not have been able to live to report his whereabouts to authorities. They may not have been able to track him down in time to save those girls in the parking garage at the University.”

Bukowsky said this is where she believes a person should have a choice.

“The women in the University garage, if they did have a weapon on them, which we don’t know, but if they did, they would be in violation of the University’s rules and if they were employees of the University like my client, they’d have to only carry those weapons while being in fear of losing their jobs,” she said.

ABC 17 News reached out the University for comment, but calls had not been returned as of Tuesday night.