Three of Utah's four public universities currently enforce policies banning guns in all or a portion of their campuses - rules that may be illegal following a Utah Supreme Court ruling earlier this month.

In the decision, the court ruled a University of Utah policy prohibiting students, faculty and staff from carrying weapons on campus violated Utah's Uniform Firearms Act. The law, enacted in 2004, prevents any state entity from creating a rule which in "any way inhibits or restricts the possession or use of firearms on either public or private property," according to the ruling.

The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit the University of Utah filed against Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff in 2002, after Shurtleff issued an opinion regarding the illegitimacy of the university's gun policy. While the U of U was the only institution directly involved in the case, other Utah schools with similar firearms policies may also be affected.

Weber State University in Ogden prohibits firearms and other weapons on its property, except those carried by on-duty law enforcement officers. At Utah State University, concealed weapons permit holders may have firearms in their possession while on campus, but not in the dormitories.

BYU, which bans guns on campus, will remain unaffected by the ruling because it is a private university.

Paul Murphy, spokesperson for the attorney general's office, said the policies at both Weber State and USU raise legal concerns in light of the court's recent ruling.

"Right now, the law is very clear that only the legislature can make laws concerning firearms," Murphy said. "And if they [state schools] are out of sync with that, they will have to make changes."

So far, however, USU and Weber State have no plans to permanently change their gun policies.

"I haven't heard anything on our campus about making a change to this policy [prohibiting firearms]," said Travis Hampshire, a human resources generalist at Weber State. "I imagine if this was brought up to the president, they would look into it."

Although the University of Utah has not stricken its firearms policy from the books, the university's president announced Monday the school will temporarily stop enforcing the gun ban.

The university originally filed the case in federal court but was instructed to first resolve state constitutional issues in the Utah courts. The university may opt to appeal the Utah court's ruling in federal court.

However, the university has decided to seek other alternatives first. In an e-mail to university faculty, staff and students, U of U president Michael K. Young said university officials would wait to further pursue federal action until they had discussed "possible legislative accommodation" with state leaders.

University officials also released a press statement saying the firearms policy promotes student safety and is in line with the policies of other universities across the country, which "uniformly prohibit guns on [their] campus[es]."

Surveys of U of U faculty and students have shown the majority support the university's 30-year-old gun policy, said Coralie Alder, the university's relations executive director.

The case raises questions about the connection between gun laws and safety - a long debated topic.

Utah's gun laws have previously been targeted as overly lenient by some gun violence prevention groups. In 2005, The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a grassroots organization based out of Washington, D.C., gave Utah a D- for the amount its gun laws shielded families from firearm violence, according to its Web site.

Some safety concerns were also mentioned in the ruling's dissenting opinion, although it focused primarily on the extent of control the legislature has over the university.

"Under its [the majority opinion's] analysis, the University may not subject a student to academic discipline for flashing his pistol to a professor in class," wrote Chief Justice Christine M. Durham.

However, according to the attorney general's office, the real issue in this case isn't safety or the legality of prohibiting guns on campus, but enforcement of state law.

"The issue is control," Murphy said. "Who makes the laws and who has to obey the laws."

If universities want to ban guns on campus, Murphy said, they should go through the legislature.

"We think that pursuing this in court is a waste of the taxpayers' money, but we will continue to defend the law," he said.

President of the Utah Senate, John L. Valentine, agreed with the court's ruling, and also cited authority as the main issue in the case.

"I appreciate what this ruling does for the second amendment issue, but, more importantly, it reaffirms that government by the people, through their elected representatives, is the law of the land," Valentine said in a press release. "There really is no room for independent islands of authority within state government."

The Utah Supreme Court's Sept. 8 decision to invalidate the University of Utah's firearms policy cited several key reasons as to why the university's gun ban policy is illegitimate.

* The Utah Constitution provides "the individual right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense ... as well as for other lawful purposes shall not be infringed."

* After the university sued the Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, the legislature passed a statute prohibiting any "state entity," which includes the university, from enacting or enforcing any firearms policy "that in any way inhibits or restricts the possession or use of firearms on either public or private property."

* The University of Utah's policy prohibits students, faculty and staff from possessing firearms on campus and "while conducting university business."

* According to the 1892 Act, a statute passed before statehood which lays out the governance of the university, the university is "subject to the laws of Utah"

* Therefore, the University of Utah is not allowed to disregard laws which interfere with its academic mission.