TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—A gun rights group is suing the University of Florida for banning guns in campus housing. The lawsuit comes on the heels of a similar suit against the University of North Florida’s ban on guns in cars.
In early December, the 1st District Court of Appeal sided with a UNF student and gun rights group Florida Carry that challenged a rule banning students from storing guns in their cars.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports UF officials said in a written statement they had been in talks with Florida Carry this week and were stunned by the lawsuit.
UF got rid of its ban on guns in cars to comply with the ruling, but had left in place a strict ban on firearms elsewhere on campus. Campus residents can store their guns, unloaded, at the university’s police station if they have permission. Anyone bringing a gun to the station is required to follow a specific street route to get there.
More than 75 people have stored guns at the station, according to media reports.
“They didn’t object to the steps we have taken to comply with the court’s decision, and they never raised the issue of guns in the home, which was not the subject of the court’s decision,” UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said in a statement.
After last month’s ruling Florida Carry sent a notice to all Florida universities and colleges that it will sue any school that does not repeal similar rules by the start of the spring semester.
