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College lockdown revives campus gun debate in Virginia
Members of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus will join two General Assembly legislators March 3 for a press conference to promote a bill that would allow concealed handguns on college campuses.
Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-south-central Loudoun) and Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) have introduced bills that would allow faculty, staff and students to carry concealed handguns on college campuses with a valid Virginia concealed-carry permit.
House Bill 424, sponsored by Marshall, and House Bill 1371, sponsored by Gilbert, were left in committee and killed during the 2008 session.
“In the wake of further shootings around the country and the lockdown at Ferrum College here in Virginia, this legislation needs to be considered by the full House,” Marshall said.
The campus lockdown took place on Feb. 26 at Ferrum College, a private school located in Southwest Virginia. A housekeeper at the college reported seeing a man with a handgun in a dormitory. Authorities say they suspect the man intended to cause harm.
“Several professors have come to me asking to give them the tools to protect their students,” Marshall stated. “Potential killers need to know that Virginia’s colleges and universities are not ‘gun free zones’ where no one will be able to stop them from killing as many people as they can.”
According to the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Web site the group has a membership of more than 19,000 college students, faculty members, parents and citizens nationwide who seek change at the individual state policy rather than the federal legislation.
“The first step is to see ‘colleges’ removed from the lists of places listed as ‘off limits’ by the concealed carry laws in many states,” the site says. “The next step is to see other states follow Utah's lead in prohibiting state colleges from enacting their own bans on concealed carry.”
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