Free Republic

By an overwhelming two-to-one vote of 76-38, the North Carolina state House passed a bill allowing permitted concealed handguns on college campuses.  As with other states, private universities will be allowed to post signs that ban permitted concealed handguns.  Disappointingly, it would also not allow concealed handguns in classes, which means it would ban guns to and from student's cars.  With 44 Democrats in the state House, not even all the Democrats voted against the bill.  From WRAL television: State House lawmakers voted late Monday night to allow concealed weapons on college campuses, state property, greenways, bike trails, at sporting...

It is well known that most college students engage at one time or another in what is known as a “hookup” — an emotionless, commitment-free sexual encounter. Recently I interviewed Donna Freitas, author of The End of Sex: How Hookup Culture Is Leaving a Generation Unhappy, Sexually Unfulfilled, and Confused About Intimacy. In our dialogue, we agreed that her book’s subtitle was accurate, but we disagreed as to the cause. Freitas, who holds a Ph.D. in religious studies, blamed it on peer pressure, the sex-drenched social media of young people, and the ubiquity of pornography. I blamed three other culprits:...

Freshman state Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, filed a bill on Thursday that would allow concealed handgun license holders to carry weapons on college campuses. The measure is similar to a bill filed by state Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury, one week earlier. Campus carry has been a controversial topic for multiple sessions and has come back into the spotlight after an argument on a Lone Star College campus in North Houston on Monday led to gunfire and multiple injuries. For opponents of campus carry, the takeaway is that more guns lead to more harm on otherwise safe campuses. For supporters, such...

A shooting at a Houston college has left at least three people injured and at least one suspect in custody, The New York Times and other media sources reported today. “Officials at the North Harris campus of Lone Star College announced an evacuation at 12:52 p.m. on its Web site, citing an incident involving ‘a couple of armed suspects,’” the report elaborated. The suspects were in violation of Lone Star College policy and the law. It is the policy of this System to prohibit the carrying of firearms, knives and clubs onto any of the System's facilities,” the college’s weapons...

Last week, when I wrote about the pornification of American college campuses, many readers expressed their loss of hope in the current generation of students, as well as the administrators who encourage such a debased culture. If my column made you weep for the future, you’ll probably be even more disheartened by the book I referenced last week, “Sex and God at Yale: Porn, Political Correctness, and a Good Education Gone Bad” by Nathan Harden. The book is an expose of how, in the words of Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain, “some of our nation’s finest universities have allowed themselves to...

CARSON CITY – A newly elected Republican state lawmaker plans to push forward with a bill next session to allow students and others with permits to carry concealed weapons on the campuses of the Nevada System of Higher Education. Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, R- Las Vegas, elected to Assembly District 4 in November, has submitted a bill draft request to prepare a measure for consideration in the 2013 legislative session. The one-line description for the request says: “Authorizes the possession of a concealed firearm on property of the Nevada System of Higher Education under certain circumstances.” Fiore, a lifetime member of...

This fall marked the first semester students have been allowed to have guns and other weapons in their vehicles on campus. After the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that public universities couldn’t ban guns from cars on campus, WKU had to change its policy. Prior to July 27, students were not allowed to have guns on campus in any capacity. The new policy allows students with valid concealed carry licenses to keep weapons in their cars, in plain sight. Students who don’t have licenses may still have the weapons in their cars and campus lots but must keep them in a...

Prominent gender and media studies professors from across the country converged recently to help host what was dubbed by organizers as a “Feminist, Anti-Racist Wikipedia Edit-a-thon” to create or influence dozens of entries on the online encyclopedia.

Texas A&M student senators want handguns in classrooms, and with a little help from the Legislature, they might soon get their wish. The student senate voted 38-19 Wednesday to ask A&M university officials and state lawmakers to permit concealed carry license holders to bring handguns inside university buildings, said Rusty Thompson, interim director of Student Activities. Student Body President John Claybrook said he has not decided whether to sign or veto the senate's recommendation but wants to have a decision by Monday. The student senate's "Texas A&M Personal Protection Bill," reads, in part: "Seeing a need for self-preservation against criminals,...

Misdemeanor charges of possessing a concealed handgun and an open container of alcohol in a vehicle against an Old Dominion University student were dropped in court. The charges against Te Edwards, 22, were dismissed Nov. 2, court records show. The charges stemmed from an investigation Aug. 4 near the 7-Eleven at 4720 Hampton Blvd. when police stopped the occupants of a vehicle and questioned them. Edwards said he had a loaded handgun in the glovebox. A change in Virginia law approved by the General Assembly in 2010 allows guns to be secured in a vehicle's glove box or in a...

While some argue that the state’s policies work just fine, as evidenced by the lack of problems reported by campus police, Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, stands among gun rights advocates who believe that the Board of Regents has no authority to ban firearms on campus. Marbut argues that current laws leave students and faculty vulnerable to others with ill intentions. He says the time has come to revisit Montana law as it pertains to firearms on campus. “I think people tend to agree with us, pretty generally, that the Montana Constitution doesn’t give the Board...

1. Campus shut down at North Dakota State due to unspecified threat 2. Campus shut down at University of Texas due to unspecified threat 3. Campus shut down at Valparaiso University (NW Indiana) due to unspecified threat. 4. Yesterday, the Brownsburg Public Schools (Indiana) website was hacked.....by someone in Iraq. Forks, this is coordinated.

The campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo is being evacuated this morning because of a bomb threat. An emergency message sent out to students and posted on the university's website this morning ordered all students and employees to leave campus by 10:15 am. "This is an emergency message from North Dakota State University. NDSU is requiring all employees and students to leave campus by 10:15 a.m. This includes residence hall students, who, if necessary, should walk to locations off campus. This also includes the downtown buildings and agricultural facilities.

Police At Chicago-Area High Schools Want To Bring Rifles To Campus Abby RogersAugust 23, 2012Magill/Flickr Despite the fact the city hasn't had any campus shootings, police in south suburban Plainfield, Ill., want to be prepared. The Plainfield Police Department wants to keep a rifle in the offices of high school police officers, NBC 5 Chicago reported Wednesday. “Unfortunately, in today’s society active shooter incidents are no longer something we see on TV," Police Chief John Konopek said. "They are reality.” Plainfield is home to four high schools. The department is specifically requesting to keep long guns such as AR15s in...

Last year was a banner year for proponents of gun carrying on college campuses. No fewer than 23 state legislatures saw bills introduced that would allow either faculty or students, or both, to bring firearms onto school grounds. The vast majority of the lawmakers in these states declined to change their current laws on the subject. Rather than giving up the fight, supporters of college carry laws have been rejuvenated by recent school shootings and have brought the issue back around in 2012. In these 10 states across the country, the great debate rages on. 1. Virginia: Looser campus carry...

Last year was a banner year for proponents of gun carrying on college campuses. No fewer than 23 state legislatures saw bills introduced that would allow either faculty or students, or both, to bring firearms onto school grounds. The vast majority of the lawmakers in these states declined to change their current laws on the subject. Rather than giving up the fight, supporters of college carry laws have been rejuvenated by recent school shootings and have brought the issue back around in 2012. In these 10 states across the country, the great debate rages on. 1. Virginia: Looser campus carry...

GALESBURG — The Carl Sandburg College Community Education program is offering a training class in June for those interested in obtaining a non-resident Utah concealed firearm permit that is recognized in 31 states. Valid for five years, the Utah concealed firearm permit is useful for gun owners who want to avoid state-by-state restrictions when traveling. The four-hour course is offered in two separate sessions: 8 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. June 16 at the college's main campus, 2400 Tom L. Wilson Blvd. The cost is $100, and those getting a Utah permit will have to pay a $51 registration...

Four years ago this month, FIRE become embroiled in a battle that would end in a decisive victory for free speech in the courts. The controversy first began in March 2008, when Tarrant County College (TCC) student Brett Poulos attempted to organize an "Empty Holster Protest." In conjunction with other protests spearheaded by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus across the country, TCC students would peacefully attend class and perform other daily tasks while wearing empty holsters to signify opposition to state laws and school policies denying concealed handgun license holders the same rights on college campuses that they are...

Frankfort, Ky --(Ammoland.com)- In April 2009 Michael Mitchell was at work, doing his job as an anesthesia tech at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. Michael was at that time also a graduate student doing his pre-med work in preparation for medical school. But a comment to a friend about a firearm that was overheard by a co-worker was reported erroneously to his supervisor, and he ended up having his locker searched for a gun that wasn’t there. Then, in an effort to be honest and helpful, Michael told them that he did have a gun, but that it was...

When two white newspaper reporters for the Virginian-Pilot were driving through Norfolk, and were set upon and beaten by a mob of young blacks — beaten so badly that they had to take a week off from work — that might sound like news that should have been reported, at least by their own newspaper. But it wasn’t. The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News Channel was the first major television program to report this incident. Yet this story is not just a Norfolk story, either in what happened or in how the media and the authorities have tried to sweep...

Florida Carry Inc. has filed an appeals against a judge's attempt to uphold a Florida university's ban on guns. There's been quite a bit of back-and-forth over the issue, but one thing is certain: lawmakers and gun rights activists are waging a war, and the territory they're fighting so hard to claim are the parking lots of Florida universities. In order to understand this battle fully, we need to look a few years back. In 1985, Florida made it legal for adults to store guns in their cars, even if they didn't have a state license. Two years later in...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Students and staff members at Kentucky universities may keep guns and other deadly weapons in a car's glove compartment, but the schools may continue to regulate them elsewhere on campus, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

While campus was empty and docile during spring break, the Louisiana Senate was in session and furthered a bill that could allow guns at the University. The bill, SB 303, makes regulation and prohibition of firearms in Louisiana more difficult in an effort to protect the Second Amendment. It was first approved by a Senate judiciary committee April 3, and after debate on the Senate floor, the bill passed with an overwhelming 31-6 vote on April 9. Gov. Bobby Jindal said he supported the bill at a National Rifle Association meeting on April 13, according to The Associated Press. The...

I recently opened my email to discover that UT has been declared a tobacco-free campus. While this finger-waving policy will and should generate some controversy, I was most struck by the following statement enclosed in the message: “The institution is enthusiastic about taking another step toward creating the healthiest environment possible for those who work, study and visit here.” Why then does the leadership of this University refuse to allow students to fully exercise their right to self-defense? Today marks the fifth anniversary of the worst campus shooting in American history. As a graduate of the Virginia Tech Class of...

In the April 9, 2012 edition of the Virginia Register, the final Virginia Tech ‘Weapons on Campus’ regulation was published and now has the force and effect of law. The regulation, which is codified at 8VAC105-20-10 through 8VAC105-20-40, addresses the “carrying, maintaining, or storing” of both “firearms” and “weapons.” The regulation specifically separates the two terms and defines them broadly. In 8VAC105-10, firearms are defined as: … any gun, rifle, pistol, or handgun designed to fire any projectile including but not limited to bullets, BBs, pellets, or shots, including paint balls, regardless of the propellant used. Weapons are defined in...

Concealed weapons should be allowed on campus. There, I said it. After years of believing weapons should not be allowed on university property, I have flipped my position. I can no longer find a valid reason as to why law-abiding citizens who attend and work at Eastern Michigan University or any university campus should be left defenseless. Last week, the group Students for Concealed Carry protested the ban on carrying concealed weapons on campus. It coincided with a bill passed in the Michigan Senate that will lift the ban and allow citizens to legally carry concealed weapons at universities. Last...

Members of the Ohio University Second Amendment Club are planning to take part in a nationwide protest this week against laws that ban concealed weapons on college campuses. From Tuesday until Friday, the students will wear visible, but empty, gun holsters. "The hope is to interact with people. It's kind of a way to start these conversations and to say our viewpoints," said Thomas Stierhoff, president of the club. The club has between 10 and 20 active members and about 100 alumni on its mailing list. In Ohio, concealed weapons are allowed in many places. Last fall, carrying firearms in...

University of California President Mark Yudof defended Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s right to speak at the university’s Berkeley campus. Farrakhan’s speech Saturday was billed as being about black empowerment, but was also peppered with anti-Semitic and hate speech, students told The Daily Californian student newspaper. A petition circulated after the speech by Jewish student leaders, which opposed Farrakhan’s speech and character, but not the Black Student Union’s right to bring him to campus, garnered more than 350 signatures, the student newspaper reported. “Louis Farrakhan is a provocative, divisive figure with a long history of racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic...

THE COLORADO SUPREME COURT put some noses out of joint when it ruled unanimously this month that the University of Colorado's campus gun ban violated a 2003 state law that entitles residents with permits to carry concealed weapons. One of those noses belonged to Abraham Nowels, a University of Colorado student who wrote to the Denver Post: "We're in the middle of midterms right now, and I can't think of anything I'd rather be focusing on than which of my fellow over-stressed, binge-drinking peers is carrying a concealed weapon into class with me." The Post agreed, pleading in an editorial...

This week Gary D. Russi, president of Oakland University in Michigan, rejected a request from the Foundation for Inividual Rights in Education (FIRE) to reconsider the three-semester suspension imposed on a student for commenting on the attractiveness of his creative writing instructor in a journal he maintained as part of the course. The "daybook" was supposed to be "a place for a writer to try out ideas and record impressions and observations," including "freewriting/brainstorming" and "creative entries." The student, Joseph Corlett, says his instructor, Pamela Mitzelfeld, repeatedly assured him that no topic was off limits, which turned out to be...

Phoenix, Ariz. – Arizona Dem say Tea Party legislators are forming an extremist approach over children’s safety. A rapid response to the already growing problem in school violence. The House of Representative introduced HB 2719 which will ease gun boundaries near school campuses, Arizona Dems call it ‘extreme’ and could possible aggravate the situation. Recently, two people were killed in a Florida high school shooting and only days after a gunman killed three students at a Ohio school “This bill will make it easier to bully and intimidate school children,” said House Minority Whip Anna Tovar, D-Tolleson (District 13). “The...

The Colorado Supreme Court has ruled. That means rapists, muggers and other criminals should listen up. Students at the University of Colorado are no longer sitting ducks, thanks to legal activism by a group of students from the Colorado Springs campus. Students are no longer rendered vulnerable by an idiotic gun ban that only threatened the safety of innocent, law-abiding students and university employees. Among thousands of students on any public Colorado campus will be a few who secretly carry weapons and know how to use them, in defense of themselves and others. That’s not how the University of Colorado...

The University of Colorado overstepped its authority when the school's board of regents imposed a ban on the carrying of concealed weapons at its four campuses, the state's Supreme Court ruled on Monday. In overturning the policy, the court said that a concealed -carry law passed by the state legislature trumped the school's ban because it did not carve out an exception for the state's flagship university. "We hold that the (concealed carry law's) comprehensive statewide purpose, broad language, and narrow exclusions show that the General Assembly intended to divest the Board of Regents of its authority to regulate concealed...

From Colorado's Boulder Camera newspaper: The Colorado Supreme Court today ruled that University of Colorado students and employees with concealed carry permits are able to carry their weapons on campus. Colorado's highest court sided with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a gun-rights group that sued CU and argued that a 1994 university policy banning concealed weapons from its campuses violates state gun laws. "It's a great victory for gun rights, and civil rights in general," said James Manley, the attorney with Mountain States Legal Foundation who represented the gun-rights group. "CU will now have to fall in line and...

Though the vast majority of college campuses across the United States do not allow guns on campus --whether concealed or not-- states like Colorado, Michigan, Virginia and Utah have mandated some of their institutions to allow guns on their respective campuses. Last semester, Oregon joined the ranks of such states, when a state appeals court ruled that the Oregon University System had overstepped in its authority by enacting a policy of disallowing both concealed and unconcealed guns on its properties. The three-judge panel of the court further ruled that only the state legislature had the power to make such laws....

In a unanimous vote, the Gila Community College (GCC) board agreed to oppose allowing guns on campus. “There’s been a lot of controversy over this bill,” said Larry Stephenson, president of the GCC board. The board’s Feb. 16 vote was spurred after the Arizona Senate hopped on the guns on campus bandwagon with Senate Bill 1474. The bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 6 and now awaits a hearing in the Senate Rules Committee. Following in the GCC board’s footsteps, the Arizona Board of Regents passed a resolution opposing the bill to allow firearms on campus on Feb....

As they have publicized nowhere, the ASUA Senate will vote today on a resolution condemning bills in the Arizona legislature that will disallow private citizens from exercising their right to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. This is a long and storied sage with ASUA — read this site’s reports on the matter from 2009, 2010, and 2011, just as a selection. The resolution (here as a pdf with today’s meeting agenda) is hardly different than resolutions other ASUA Senates have passed on the matter, but this round of bullets against personal property rights is noteworthy for a few reasons....

Guns and coffee collided Tuesday outside as Ohio State students from the group Buckeyes for Concealed Carry on Campus spent part of their Valentine's Day advocating for the right to carry a weapon on campus. The group protested outside Starbucks on 14th Avenue and High Street in a response to a nationwide boycott against Starbucks for its neutral position on concealed carry. The National Gun Victim's Action Council called for a nationwide boycott of Starbucks on Valentine's Day until the corporation prohibits guns in the stores. Michael Newbern, a second-year in industrial engineering and president of Buckeyes for Concealed Carry...

Firearms may soon be allowed on Arizona college campuses if Senate Bill 1474 is passed. This past April, Gov. Brewer vetoed the bill, which was then SB 1467. In her veto letter, she said the bill was too ambiguous in stating its key concepts of where weapons can be carried and how K-12 schools will be affected. “Bills impacting our Second Amendment rights have to be crystal clear so that gun owners don’t become lawbreakers by accident,” Brewer said. The bill has been modified to correct the areas in which Brewer said were too vague, in hopes of being passed...

While participating in highway clean ups, the Student for Concealed Carry on Campus chapter seems like the average club doing community service at first glance. These students take safety precautions to a different level though. Along with the reflective vests and garden gloves, these students carry pistols in holsters while serving their community. "We get a pretty good amount of horn beeps and ‘woo-hoos' and stuff while we're out there," Clark Lynn said. Lynn is a senior in psychology and president of the N.C. State chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. A club's mission As part of a...

Monday, the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 1474 by a 5 to 3 vote. This bill, sponsored by state Senator Ron Gould (R-3), is right-to-carry reform legislation which would enable law-abiding citizens to defend themselves while on the grounds of higher education campuses. SB 1474 will now be sent to the Senate floor for a vote. Please call AND e-mail your state Senator and encourage him or her to support this important personal protection legislation! SB 1474 would prohibit a public university, college, or community college from adopting or enforcing any policy prohibiting the lawful carry of a...

In 1991, University of Iowa student Gang Lu shot five university employees. In 1996, San Diego State University student Frederick Martin Davidson killed three professors. However, the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre is the most memorable shooting on a college campus, as it left 32 innocent students dead after they were picked off by a crazed gunman. On Dec. 8, 2011, another shooting occurred on the Virginia Tech campus, leaving a police officer dead. Apparently the school’s ban on guns failed yet again, considering that the perpetrator of this incident did not obey it. But how many people actually believe that...

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona lawmakers Monday advanced a pair of gun-rights bills that would expand where firearms could be carried, including a proposal allowing concealed weapons on university campuses, touching off pointed criticism from groups as divergent students and law enforcement officials. A bill introduced by Republican state Sen. Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City allows people with necessary permits to carry concealed guns on campus grounds and prevents public universities and community colleges from restricting that privilege.

UA President Eugene Sander publicly declared his opposition to guns on campus on Thursday, as well as discussed his recent meetings with state legislators regarding the College of Medicine and the university’s budget during his fourth town hall-style meeting. Sander began the meeting by explaining some of the proposed legislation that would allow guns on campus, saying that because the UA is an academic hub that houses scholars, athletes, professors and children, having guns on campus would be neither smart nor safe. “I believe in the Second Amendment and I even own a host of guns, however this does not...

BERKELEY -- Why in the world does the University of California employ an armed police force on its campuses? That question, and the anger implied in its wording, was asked repeatedly Wednesday night by UC Berkeley students and faculty of top UC brass. Berkeley was a whistlestop on their tour of campuses before they prepare UC's official response to the use of batons and pepper-spray against peaceful protesters last November. ... Everyone sat in concentric circles waiting for the chance to influence recommendations being prepared on behalf of the university system by Charles Robinson, UC's general counsel, and Chris Edley,...

Hoping to avoid another veto, a state lawmaker on Monday revamped his proposal to let faculty and students carry guns onto college and university campuses. The legislation by Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, would limit the ability to be armed to those who have a state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon. Last year's vetoed bill had no such limit. And Gould would permit schools to declare specific buildings and classrooms to be gun-free zones. But that would first require colleges and universities to not only post "no gun" notices but furnish lockers where those who brought their guns...

I'm a rare Republican. I really don't like guns. I have a problem with tools that have such a strong intent and prevalence of violence. I can only think of one constructive thing to do with a gun, and that's practice your aim. But what help is being able to shoot a gun well unless you're shooting a gun? It doesn't seem to me to have any outside practical purposes where other tools that could be used destructively do. Take a hammer, for example. You could probably kill someone with it, but you can also build all sorts of things....

A bill in the Kansas House of Federal and State Affairs Committee would allow concealed carry permit holders to bring firearms onto college and university campuses. The committee heard testimony Wednesday and Thursday on House Bill 2353, introduced by Rep. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona. Under the current law, public and private buildings may prohibit entry of permit holders’ firearms with signs posted at every entrance, which the University currently does. According to the new bill, public places would not be able to prohibit firearms by licensed carriers unless it had “adequate security measures,” including security guards and metal detectors at all...

STILLWATER - It looked like a regular class. Students took notes while the instructor talked about the points listed on a screen behind him. But this Friday evening session on the Oklahoma State University campus didn't count toward a college degree. This class was for a license to carry a concealed firearm. Forty-two people - students, faculty members and Stillwater residents - registered for the session, a first for the university. The group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus hosted the class, with certified instructors from the Stillwater Armory, a gun store, range and training center, leading the course. Weapons...

Before I say anything else, let me make it clear: any liberal (or person) who calls himself an American should believe in the Constitution. I see, too often, in blogs and on television people who selectively promote their favorite parts of our governing document. Conservatives seem as if they want to tattoo the 10th Amendment (states’ rights) on their chest, but often questionably cut corners around the Fourth Amendment (protection against unwarranted searches) for the sake of “national security.” Liberals talk endlessly of First Amendment rights to free speech, while trying to ignore the Second Amendment. I try not to...