Handguns will be allowed at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs beginning Monday, but it’s not as if they’ll be making an appearance.

CU officials are none-too enthusiastic about having to allow students with concealed-carry permits on campus, having lost a Colorado Supreme Court case over the issue in March. New rules announced this week ban weapons from being carried openly and will force concealed-carry permit holders to report to campus authorities if they want to live in a dormitory. If they live in a dorm, concealed-carry permit holders will have to keep their guns in a safe when they are not being carried.

“These might be rules in search of a problem,” said Jim Manley, the Mountain States Legal Foundation attorney who won the court case which began in El Paso County’s 4th Judicial District Court. “We’ll see how it plays out.”

While requiring concealed-carry permit holders to report their status to university officials probably isn’t illegal, Manley said, but he questioned the policy.

“It just seems like CU shouldn’t be trying to ‘out’ them,” Manley said. “They’re going to create problems the Legislature didn’t anticipate.”

The court challenge was based on a state law allowing concealed-carry in most state buildings. The CU Board of Regents resisted, claiming it was a separate entity not subject to the law, but the Supreme Court disagreed.

Thus, concealed-carry permit holders won’t be able to live in the same dorm as freshmen. As a practical matter this may have little impact, because one must be 21 years old to have a concealed-carry permit and few of the dorm residents are that old.

As a policy matter, the campus gun rules re-ignite the same old debate. Gun advocates say they’ll be more safe by being able to carry guns on campus while others point to the numerous multiple shootings around the nation, suggesting it’s dangerous to encourage guns in more and more venues.

“I think the historical record shows that gun-free zones don’t work,” Manley said.

Well, gun bans seem to work pretty well on commercial jets and court buildings and you don’t hear arguments about those bans from the most strident of gun advocates. Yet it’s also true that in El Paso County, concealed-carry permit holders have not been involved in violent crimes or mayhem.

The CU rules disallow the carrying of guns openly. If that was allowed all students could do it, regardless of their age, and that might add more zest to a political science class than some would be comfortable with.

Guns on campus? No news will be good news.

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Listen to Barry Noreen on KRDO NewsRadio 105.5 FM and 1240 AM at 6:35 a.m. on Fridays and follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Contact him at 719-636-0363 or at barry.noreen@gazettedev.gazette.com