Dormitory Firearm Posession at Louisiana Public School

Question

I'm a student at a public university in Louisiana, and I was reading up on the state's firearm law in order to be sure I could legally keep such a weapon for defense in my apartment, which is extremely close to campus (D.C. v. Heller should theoretically have me covered, but I'm hardly in a position for a legal battle at the moment...).

However, reading the statute, I was surprised to read the following in RS 14:95.2

C. The provisions of this Section shall not apply to: ...

(4) The possession of a firearm occurring within one thousand feet of school property and entirely on private property, or entirely within a private residence. (5) Any constitutionally protected activity which cannot be regulated by the state, such as a firearm contained entirely within a motor vehicle...

(8) A student who possesses a firearm in his dormitory room or while going to or from his vehicle or any other person with permission of the administration.

The 4th exception seems to vindicate my current arrangement, and the 5th to permit my automotive transport of the firearm along the roads on campus. However, the 8th appears to be explicitly contradicted by policies I was informed of when living on campus, alongside signage posted liberally at campus entry roads and residential parking lots. The (to my mind, patently absurd) standard in the "Living On Campus Handbook" is

Weapons Possession and use of firearms (including but not limited to air pistols, BB guns, and paint guns), facsimile weapons, ammunition (including but not limited to empty/spent shell casings), explosives, fireworks, knives (other than kitchen utensils), or dangerous weapons is prohibited in or around Residential Life properties.

Is there some other source of legal authority legitimating the university's actions that I ought to be aware of? If not, what might the correct legal remedy be to ensure administration's compliance with the statute? I suppose I no longer have any standing, even if I were in a position to raise the issue.

A perhaps more pressing meta-law question: is there a better way to see all statutes that modify a given statute, or to see the state of all regulations as they stand, i.e. can I git clone the laws I'm currently subject to rather than sifting through all the patches in the commit history?

Answer 1

RS 14:95.2 applies to everyone, and defines a particular kind of crime. The housing contract overlaps that law in a small way: the legislature did not make it a crime for a student to possess a firearm in his dorm room. But the university makes it a lease condition, in the same way that having a pet is not a crime, but is grounds for terminating the lease.

Answer 2

There are no other statutes in play here, the wording is clear. Statutes don't "modify" other statutes, they tend to stand on their own and when they do not they are changed to do so. A quick google search pointed me to LRS 14:95.6, the source of "Firearm Free Zone" designation and the authority to create such a zone. What the writers have done in 14:95.2 is carved out the ability for University administrations to allow posession of firearms on campus if they so choose. It says with permission of the administration, not that the administration must grant permission. The statute does not force the administration to allow guns on campus, no matter how "absurd" you find the administration's stance. But give the idiots in charge a few years of NRA donations, and there might be a new law on the way for that. The Georgia "Campus Carry" law for this is very clear in its scope not like Louisiana's at all.