COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) – The Missouri Attorney General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against the University of Missouri Board of Curators in support of a university law professor’s challenge to the campus firearms ban.

In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Boone County, Andrew Hirth, deputy general counsel for Attorney General Chris Koster, wrote that the campus ban on guns conflicts with state law. The lawsuit asks for a judgment on the case filed in Cole County in September by School of Law Professor Royce de R. Barondes. The attorney general’s spokeswoman says the Boone County lawsuit is a “parallel step” to Barondes’ lawsuit.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports (http://j.mp/2bpQFRe ) that university system spokesman John Fougere says the university’s ban is narrowly tailored to achieve its interest in preserving campus safety.