The ban, adopted in 2001, prohibits firearms on all campus properties, regardless of concealed-carry permits. Plaintiff Joshua Wade challenged the ban as a violation of the Second Amendment but was unsuccessful in lower courts. Michigan Supreme Court Justices David Viviano and Brian Zahra dissented, calling for a more thorough review in light of recent Supreme Court rulings on firearm rights.

Controversial ruling methodology.

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The core legal issue in the Wade case was how to evaluate gun regulations under the Second Amendment. The Michigan Court of Appeals had created their own four-part test that included determining whether the university’s regulation qualified as permissible under the “sensitive places” doctrine, which allows for firearm restrictions in locations like schools and government buildings.

In Viviano’s dissent, he said that the test wasn’t “grounded in the text of the Second Amendment or the Supreme Court’s caselaw interpreting it.”

Broader implications for second amendment rights.

Viviano’s dissent also argued that the Court of Appeals’ ruling overlooked crucial historical context, noting that historically, universities imposed only limited restrictions on firearms, typically targeting specific groups, such as students, rather than implementing sweeping bans. Viviano asserted that a complete ban on firearms across a sprawling modern campus might extend beyond what historical regulations intended.

The road ahead: uncertainty and legal challenges.

The decision not to hear the case leaves Wade and other Second Amendment advocates at a dead end – at least for now. However, this ruling doesn’t settle the broader debate over whether modern campuses qualify as “sensitive places.”

With this decision, the University of Michigan joins a small but significant group of public universities maintaining campus-wide gun bans, reinforcing its stance that guns disrupt academic environments. Legal experts predict that the controversy will likely resurface, either in Michigan or at other universities facing similar legal challenges.