UK Gun Owner Fired Over Gun in Car

The University of Kentucky has fired a graduate student and former anesthesia technician, Michael Mitchell, for keeping a gun in his car a mile away from the university hospital where he was employed. 

The university then proceeded to try to deny Mitchell unemployment compensation by claiming, unsuccessfully, that he was fired for misconduct.  A hearing officer found against the University of Kentucky and in favor of Mitchell.   

All this, despite the fact that Mitchell had a Kentucky concealed carry permit, believed he had fully complied with Kentucky law governing concealed carry, and therefore cooperated fully with police and university authorities.   

And finally, Kentucky Revised Statutes sec. 27.020 seems to prevent a state institution like the University of Kentucky from interfering with the Second Amendment rights of a concealed carry permit holder.  That section holds, in part, that “[n]o person or organization, public or private, shall prohibit” a concealed carry permit holder from transporting a firearm in his vehicle in accordance with law. 

So.......  What’s up with the University of Kentucky?

The answer is that it’s probably not much different from many Left-leaning universities.  After all, Virginia Tech fought hard and successfully to keep guns off its campus – nearly a year, to the day, before a crazed gunman killed 31 people on that campus.

Mitchell appealed a ruling from Fayette Circuit Court Judge Pamela Goodwine, who dismissed his suit against the University of Kentucky because its anti-gun animus “was not a violation of public policy.”

Judge Goodwine claims to have read U.S. Supreme Court language concerning “exceptions” to the Second Amendment.  This language is called “dictum” and is non-binding. 

But Goodwine seems to have missed the point of the Supreme Court’s decision in Heller:  Americans have a constitutional right to use firearms to defend themselves. 

Kentucky concealed carry permit holders aren’t a problem in America.  Rather, the problem is liberal anti-gun institutions who want to disarm their students and employees -– at the same time that they are adamantly incompetent in their efforts to protect persons on their property.

Mitchell appealed directly to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which voted 5-2 to hear his appeal.  A win in this lawsuit will end the illegal and discriminatory practice on the university.

ACTION:  Our friends at Kentucky Coalition to Carry Concealed (KC3) have set up a fund for Michael Mitchell’s legal defense.  Please visit https://www.kc3.com/donation.php to contribute to this important cause.  Any contribution, however small, to this effort to fight on behalf of the Second Amendment would be appreciated.