Liberty University to consider concealed weapons on campus
File Photo by Jill Nance/The News & Advance
Two Liberty University students sit on the steps of DeMoss Hall last month. LU officials say they will consider whether concealed weapons permit holders will be allowed to carry guns on campus.
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By Christa Desrets
Published: October 9, 2008
Liberty University will consider whether to allow concealed weapon permit holders to carry guns on campus at its next board of trustees meeting, Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said Thursday.
If it adopted the policy change, Liberty would become one nearly a dozen colleges nationally to allow concealed weapons on campus, according to Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.
Falwell said he decided to bring the matter before the board for discussion after members of Liberty’s chapter of SCCC requested it.
“We just have a group on campus that’s been promoting that idea, and I really don’t have a good feel for whether our community would support it or not,” Falwell said. “So I just decided to take it to the board.”
Currently the university does not allow those with concealed weapons permits to carry a gun on campus, he said.
The board of trustees has 38 members, including Falwell and his brother Jonathan. The next meeting is in early March.
The body may not make a decision on the issue, Falwell said, but will at least consider it.
“I want to make sure that we look at it long and hard before we make a decision,” he said.
“Between now and the board meeting, we’ll have RAs (resident advisers) talking to students and see what they think about it.”
Falwell also has not formed an opinion on the issue, he said.
Liberty senior Ben Neiman, leader of Liberty’s chapter of SCCC, said the group has more than 300 members, mostly students, staff and faculty.
Nationally, the organization has more than 30,000 members at hundreds of schools.
“These are people who already have their concealed carry permits, and you mingle with them in movie theaters and shopping malls around town anyways,” Neiman said. “We’re just all about our own safety. We realize that campuses are generally safe, but in the off chance that we are threatened, we want to be able to defend ourselves.”
Utah is the only state that does not allow any of its nine public universities to restrict people from carrying concealed weapons on campus.
According to the SCCC, Colorado State University and Blue Ridge Community College in Weyers Cave, Va., are the only other schools that allow concealed carry on campus.
In Virginia, where one must be at least 21 years old to apply for a concealed handgun permit, each college can decide whether to allow guns on campus.
Leading up to the meeting in March, Falwell said board members have much to consider, such as how difficult the process is to get a permit to carry.
He also hopes to ask students and faculty for their opinions, and learn more about the arguments from both sides of the issue.
“I understand all the concern about security, and that’s why I’m even going to mention it to the board,” Falwell said.
“If the board thinks that would enhance security, then it might be something they would be in favor of.”
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( damalama ) on October 13, 2008 at 6:45 pm
“student” body carrying guns, learning how to operate aircraft, being brainwashed in teachings by their leaders who preach what they believe lines in a book mean, preaching hate to those who don’t believe what they believe, saying any thinking other than their own is wrong…is it offical now, can we call that place a terrorist compound.
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Posted by ( kristyne87 ) on October 13, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Cosmo…redstone called you out on exactly what you said. You are saying that Christians are supposed to be okay with being murdered. There is a difference between the Christians who were fed to the lions, or who were burned alive by Nero, and a random Christian who would become the victim of a house break in or school shooting. Those Christians were dying and tortured and had their families tortured in front of their faces because they refused to recant their faith in Christ. This is a huge difference between becoming a victim in a violent act.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on October 13, 2008 at 5:57 pm
(redstone) asks… “Did you just suggest all who believe in an afterlife and heaven should be OK with being murdered? I think its an interesting position, I was just wondering if you wanted to explain it…“
I suggested no such thing (redstone). In point of fact I was struck by the curious fact that the only college around that is “a-hankering” to get armed just so happens to be the one sure that it’s better when you are dead. If it’s about “being safe” I would have thought Sweet Briar could make the best case.
It all does get me thinking. So, is Christian martyrdom totally out of fashion now? A little less God’s Will and a lot more “Do to others before the get a chance to do to you”? Kind of a religious version of The Bush Doctrine? I can’t help thinking what fools the Christians who were fed to lions by the Romans must feel like. Up there in Heaven, that it.
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Posted by ( Bill-o'Rights ) on October 13, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Guns may also save a life as well.
Any tool may be used for a variety of functions. An axe may be used to cut firewood for cooking and warmth, trim a dead tree’s limb to save a house in its shadow, just as it may be used wrongly to murder an unarmed victim. However, how many reports do we read about the gentleman who trimmed a tree with his axe?
If by chance, the one time I may actually need the tool, or a weapon, I would rather have it by my side than to wish that I had it by my side.
If Anyone can find A SINGLE report of a Legal Conceal Carry Permit Owner committing a violent armed crime, Please post on the matter otherwise do not judge that all gun owners and all CCP owners are criminals. Goodluck in your futile search, I do hope though that you will dig deeper into the archives and realize the truth behind gun-controll.
While you are researching the controll laws, look into the “why” they are being passed and to the “who” they are aimed at keeping unarmed.
Ie. durring the re-construction era, not to many folks wanted the recently freed folks to be able to defend their new rights with a weapon. That would have leveled the playing field and probably would have resulted in the immidiate demise of a specific Klan’s motive behind keping the status que of power.
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Posted by ( kristyne87 ) on October 13, 2008 at 3:33 pm
TJ57 I LOVE the facts, because I myself am still not certain about CC on campus, especially by students. When the arguments are filled with cited facts its easier to have a logical debate on which would be actually better.
Thank you Cosmos for admitting your actual question, and I think I had read that in a few earlier posts with Jero…but now I really see it. “ I just find it curious that people who claim it’s better when you are dead are SO afraid for their lives. It would ALL be God’s will ANYWAY”
Okay so, yes, as a Christian, I do believe that Heaven is a very real place that those who have faith in Christ get to, and that it is a much much better place than Earth.
But the issue is not necessarily being afraid for their lives, afraid people hide in holes, concerned activists do something about it. I mean lets look at the reason why people become police officers. Is it because they are afraid of crime, or because they sense a better calling to protect others, and therefore put themselves in harms way. They are very unafraid. And I believe that anyone who would wish to conceal carry is far braver than another who may not. It means that that person is responsible for the fact that if there is some sort of disturbance in their vicinity, then they should go towards the conflict and risk their own lives, as opposed to run away and hide.
Therefore I believe that more of those Faculty would wish not only to protect their own lives, but rather to protect those around them and to stop a potential situation like school shootings. Or perhaps they would carry because they would feel like a victim, like a target.
God is sovereign, i.e. yes in control over everything, but human free will still plays into that. For example…I could walk in front of a bus and end my life…but that wouldn’t be God’s plan for my life…that would be a waste. God is not only interested in restoring an eternal relationship, but He is highly interested in our lives on Earth. Jesus said that He came that we might have life and have it abundantly. God wants us to enjoy this life and to tell others about Him, but to realize that Heaven is our more important home.
When making decisions the Bible highly cites using wisdom, this can be used in this situation. In today’s society with the shootings and the rampant crime, I believe that God would want everyone (even non Christians) to protect themselves against potential harm. That is simply the sad state of things.
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Posted by ( TJackson57 ) on October 13, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Cosmo, the Kleck (not Gleck) study found DGUs amounted to 2,000,000.
As I said, if you don’t like his numbers, you can look at the Department of Justice Study here: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165476.pdf
They found 1,500,000.
And congratulations on realizing a fact. Many crimes are not prosecuted. In fact, some are not even reported.
That being said, you seem to vastly underestimate the amount of crime that exists in the United States. According to the FBI there were 11,251,818 crimes reported in the United States in 2007. (How many more were unreported?) Of those 11,251,818 there were more than 1,400,000 violent crimes.
Crime is real. CCW allows individuals to defend themselves against the most dangerous among us.
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Posted by ( redstone ) on October 13, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Cosmo,
I have a friend like you that says crazy stuff just because he likes setting people off.
and I qoute The Cosmo “ I just find it curious that people who claim it’s better when you are dead are SO afraid for their lives. It would ALL be God’s will ANYWAY! “
Did you just suggest all who believe in an afterlife and heaven should be ok with being murdered? I think its an interesting position, I was just wondering if you wanted to explain it so we could share in the wisdom of the Cosmo. Since you did not reference “dying for ones faith” I assume you just mean in general we should feel this way. IM not kidding, I really want to hear you defend this one.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on October 13, 2008 at 1:12 pm
(TJ57)? “Professor, Gary Kleck”? Tell us how he measured crimes that didn’t happen. Get real. You realize that the statistics you posted amount to more than the number of people we even have in prison for ALL offences in America, if memory serves me right?
OK, I stand corrected. The killer was driven insane by his Christian parents attempting to convince him snakes really do talk.
Look, I have no problem with “CC” permits. I have no problem with gun ownership. I just find it curious that people who claim it’s better when you are dead are SO afraid for their lives. It would ALL be God’s will ANYWAY!
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Posted by ( luv2bliberal ) on October 13, 2008 at 12:47 pm
Cozmo wrong? Say it ain’t so!
Did you also know he is almost never right? That is what happens when you go through life uneducated.
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Posted by ( TJackson57 ) on October 13, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Cosmo said: “The shooter WAS a Christian!“
Actually, that isn’t true. He was brought up in a Christian home, but he bitterly hated Christians. In one of his rambling hate filled message he posted on the internet, he said: “I’m coming for EVERYONE soon and I WILL be armed to the ...teeth and I WILL shoot to kill. ...God, I can’t wait till I can kill you people. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame, I don’t care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill and injure as many of you ... as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world.“
Perhaps you should have done a bit of investigation? Perhaps you should have investigated statements of the law enforcement officials involved in the case, who pointed out that the shooting was motivated by Anti-Christian Bias.
In case you don’t know, one is not a Christian by virtue of being brought up in a Christian home. Just as one might not be an Atheist by virtue of being brought up on a secular household.
I understand that you have an agenda, but you really need to get your head out of the clouds and snap back to reality.
Cosmo said: “Give us stats: How many people are shot and or killed accidentally by handguns in America? How many crazy shooters are stopped by “CC” Dirty Harry wanna-be Rambos?“
University of Florida Criminal Justice Professor, Gary Kleck conducted a study which showed defensive gun uses occur 2,000,000 per year. The United States Department of Justice (using a smaller sample size) put the number at 1,500,000. In the overwhelming majority of the DGUs a gun never has to be fired. Merely brandishing the gun is enough to stop the criminal act.
So, let’s use the smaller DOJ number for sake of argument. 1,500,000.
By contrast, there are only about 600 accidental firearm deaths per year.
Let’s put that number into perspective. Accidental firearm deaths fall behind Automobiles (43,000) Falls (16,200) Poisoning (12,100) Pedestrian Accidents (5,300) Drowning (3,900) Fires (3,600) Suffocation (3,400).
1,500,000 vs. 600.
That’s 1,500,000 individuals who may have been murdered, raped, robbed, or assaulted had it not been for the defensive use of firearms.
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