Gun bill targets colleges (A Virginia Gun Rights Poll to FREEP is at the link)

A bill being considered in the House of Delegates challenges the authority of public universities to restrict weapons on campus.
FREEPERs, Please take the poll at the link.
BLACKSBURG -- Seventy-five guns sit in a weapons storage facility at the Virginia Tech police station.

The guns are secured inside storage compartments in a locked room slightly larger than a walk-in closet.

University policy requires students and employees, other than police, to check their guns there. If they want to take them off campus, they have to sign them out, and a university police officer must retrieve them.

Regardless of whatever permits they may have, those students and employees are not allowed to possess guns on campus.

Tech's regulations are similar to gun policies at public colleges throughout the state, such as the University of Virginia, Virginia Military Institute and Radford University.

But a bill being considered in the state House of Delegates challenges the authority of public universities to create such policies.

House Bill 1572, proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, would prohibit universities from making "rules or regulations limiting or abridging the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun permit ... from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun."

The legislation makes exceptions for participants in athletic events, storage of guns in residence halls and military training programs.

The issue of guns on campus received attention at Tech last spring when a student was disciplined for bringing a handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit.

Some gun owners questioned the university's authority, while the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns on campus.

In June, Tech's governing board approved a violence prevention policy that reiterates the ban on students or employees carrying guns and prohibits visitors from bringing guns into campus facilities.

Two bills seeking to clarify the issue by giving college governing boards explicit authority to regulate firearms on campus died in committee during last year's General Assembly session.

Philip Van Cleave, a Midlothian resident who is president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said Wednesday that public universities have no right to tell visitors where they can bring guns. Their authority over students remains a gray area, he said.

"The basic intent is to allow students with concealed weapons permits to be able to carry their gun with them on campus just like they can anywhere else in the state," he said. "You can count the number of exceptions on one hand."

But Tech Police Chief Debra Duncan said colleges should be included in those exceptions.

"You can't carry a gun on an airplane, you can't carry a gun in a federal building and you shouldn't be able to carry a gun at an institute of learning," she said.

Spokesman Gary Frink said Gilbert wouldn't discuss the bill until it moved further along in the legislative process. The bill is in subcommittee and Van Cleave said he didn't expect it to be heard for at least a couple of weeks.

While passage of the bill is still a long way off -- with hurdles to clear in subcommittee and full committee before going in front of all delegates and then the Senate -- Van Cleave is confident it could be passed.

"I don't believe we're overstepping any bounds. We get into this magical thing where someone steps on school property and the sky parts," he said. "School is just another place."

But officials at colleges throughout the state argue that school isn't just another place and guns are anathema to a learning environment that should be free of fear or intimidation.

"We do believe this has grave implications," he said. "Why would the General Assembly wish to legislate to make campuses unsafe?"

But National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre, who was in Roanoke on Wednesday to speak to a Kiwanis Club gathering, pointed out that guns can actually make campuses safer.

He cited the fatal shootings at the Appalachian School of Law in which several armed students subdued the gunman.

Van Cleave pointed out potential safety problems facing women going to night classes.

Van Cleave said his group has heard from several students who want the right to carry guns on campus.

Stephanie Harmon, president of the Radford University Student Government Association, said she would bring the topic up at a student senate meeting Monday before the student government took an official stance on the bill.

"It's not that I'm opposed to gun rights, it's just not necessary," she said. "It's taking an increased risk of something happening when you allow a gun in the classroom."

"Was I violating their rights?"

Probably, though in a fairly inoffensive fashion.

I'm curious as to what school would allow a "Head Resident" to set firearms policy?

I'm also curious as to what sort of "problems" you anticipated, in setting such a policy, and for that matter, what you could/would have done had there been such a "problem?"

No trouble posting it. Tried to cut and paste the link from the article to the survey to put in my post but it was java script and wouldn't copy. Tried typing the java line to the browser window and got a different poll. I did it via the page on the newspaers site. It will not let you vote twice.

Their authority over students remains a gray area, he said.

No it doesn't. The students at a PUBLIC university don't relinquish their Constitutional rights when they step onto campus. Funny how this seems clear to everyone where the First Amendment is concerned, but all sorts of otherwise sane people go fuzzy when it comes to the Second Amendment -- even this Va. Citizen's Defense League guy!

Government has no legitimate authority to restrict where folks can have guns. That there are so many restrictions on campii is just idiocy. Why?

We have no such restrictions in Oregon and state law specifically forbids anyone but the legislature from regulating the places and manner in which weapons may be carried (and campii and even public skools are presently allowed no restrictions, only the federal statutes restricting carry at public skools to CWP licensees apply, and school boards can't prohibit them and they hate it). Add to that a state high court ruling which would probably limit even the legislature's authority if push came to shove, and things are good here. Yet there are no old west shootouts and no bloodbaths here, where more innocents are shot by cops than anyone else it sometimes seems.

Oh I went to the story & poll site at the top of the thread. By now the tables have turned, the dummies or whatever have been there and it's something like 81% against. Idiots. And the related discussion forum carries mostly pro gun comments, but the few anti gun ones are coming up with dumb crap like "they don't need them". Idiots. This isn't about need it's about rights. I agree, if colleges figger it's okay to take away gun rights then it's only fair they take away all rights including free speech. But then I guess a lot of them do in a way, where utterences of the un-PC variety go sanctioned lots of times. Idiots. Clearly they are hostile to all rights and I suggest if they don't want them they don't need them, so take them away. Including so-called academic freedom, which I don't think is in the constitution anyway < /rant >.

Update to poll from Thursday, SWO.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/wb/xp-50224

Your thoughts on guns on college campuses
"Our Thursday story about a proposed bill that would allow guns onto college campuses drew quite a response."

"Thanks in large part, apparently, to a call to vote from the conservative Web site freerepublic.com, our poll question garnered more than 2,000 votes -- more than 90 percent in favor of the legislation."....excerpt

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